Lufthansa Group has named senior manager Kay Kratky to succeed Jaan Albrecht as chief executive of Austrian Airlines from the start of August.
Kratky has been chief operating officer for Lufthansa’s passenger arm and has previously been managing director of the group’s now-defunct Chinese freight joint venture Jade Cargo. He joined the airline group as a cadet pilot in 1979 and continued his flying career as a captain while he took over managerial responsibilities.
Albrecht will leave Austrian at the end of May to take the helm of SunExpress, Lufthansa’s leisure joint venture with Turkish Airlines.
Lufthansa will employ SunExpress’s German operation to launch long-haul routes with Airbus A330s as part of the build-up of the group’s Eurowings subsidiary as a pan-European low-cost carrier.
Kratky’s appointment has yet to be approved by the supervisory board, which will meet on 12 May.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
