Austrian Airlines: Jaan Albrecht accepts position as CEO of SunExpress; will remain CEO of Austrian Airlines until the end of May 2015

• Supervisory Board will decide on his successor at Austrian Airlines
• Austrian Airlines and Tyrolean merge on April 1, 2015
• Klaus Froese appointed COO of the Extended Executive Board of Austrian Airlines

VIENNA, 2015-4-1 — /Travel PR News/ — Jaan Albrecht, who has been the CEO of Austrian Airlines since November 2011, has accepted a position at SunExpress, a joint venture of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, and will serve as its CEO starting June 1, 2015. This was decided today at the Supervisory Board meeting of SunExpress. Albrecht (60) will remain CEO of Austrian Airlines until the end of May 2015. The Supervisory Board will make a decision on Albrecht’s successor at a later date.

“The decision to ask Jaan Albrecht to assume a new position within the Lufthansa Group was not easy for us“, says Harry Hohmeister, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Austrian Airlines. “After all, he led Austrian Airlines out of a crisis and achieved a turnaround. However, his good international contacts and his experience in different positions in the airline sector make him an ideal CEO of SunExpress.”

Jaan Albrecht, CEO of Austrian Airlines adds: “I will say it straight out. It is with a heavy heart that I will be leaving Vienna and Austrian Airlines at the end of May. But I am leaving with a good feeling about the situation because Austrian Airlines is well on track. At the same time, I am also happy to be able to contribute my experience once again to such an important international joint venture.”

Paul Schwaiger (60), the current Managing Director of SunExpress, will leave the company due to the expiration of his contract. In order to ensure a smooth handover and a seamless transition, Paul Schwaiger will actively shape the change in the airline’s management and continue to support Jaan Albrecht until the middle of July 2015.

Austrian Airlines and Tyrolean to merge – Klaus Froese appointed COO
There will also be another personnel change at Austrian Airlines as a result of tomorrow’s fusion of Austrian Airlines and Tyrolean Airways. Klaus Froese will serve as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) in the Extended Executive Board of Austrian Airlines and assume responsibility for the operation. This Extended Executive Board will now consist of Jaan Albrecht (CEO until May 31, 2015), Andreas Otto (CCO), Heinz Lachinger (CFO) and Klaus Froese (COO).
As previously reported, following a consensus reached on a new collective wage agreement for the flight crew, some 3,000 flight attendants and pilots will transfer from Tyrolean to Austrian Airlines effective April 1, 2015. Accordingly, the entire flight operations will be integrated into Austrian Airlines, and the add-on “operated by Tyrolean” will no longer be used as of this date. Moreover, all station employees in the federal provinces and all employees in the flight operations administration will also switch over to Austrian Airlines.

About Jaan Albrecht:
Jaan Albrecht (60) has been Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board of Austrian Airlines since 2011. Previously he was CEO of Star Alliance for a period of ten years. Jaan Albrecht began his professional career as a pilot for the Mexican airline Mexicana, where he was first officer, captain and pilot of the Boeing 727 fleet for 20 years before he moved into management in 1990 and served in various senior operating and commercial management positions. Jaan Albrecht is a Mexican and German citizen and speaks Spanish, English and German fluently.

About Klaus Froese:
Klaus Froese (52) started his career in aviation in 1987 as the first officer with Deutsche Luftverkehrsgesellschaft mbH, DLT, the predecessor of Lufthansa CityLine. In 1989 he started working as a pilot for the Lufthansa Group before being appointed to the position as Head of the Group Safety Pilot and Quality Management Operations department of Lufthansa. In 2006 the Bonn-born manager was named Managing Director of Lufthansa CityLine GmbH.

Austrian Airlines: Austrian Airlines is Austria’s largest carrier and operates a global route network of round 130 destinations. That route network is particularly dense in Central and Eastern Europe with 40 destinations. Thanks to its favourable geographical location at the heart of Europe, the company’s hub at Vienna International Airport is the ideal gateway between East and West. Austrian Airlines is part of the Lufthansa Group, Europe’s largest airline group, and a member of the Star Alliance, the first global alliance of international airlines. The flight operations of the Austrian Airlines Group have been bundled at its 100% subsidiary Tyrolean Airways since 1st July, 2012.

SunExpress was founded in October 1989 as a subsidiary of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. SunExpress offers a large number of connections featuring more than 700 flights per week to more than 110 destinations in the summer of 2015. Together with renowned tour operators, the holiday airline brings more than 7 million passengers to holiday destinations in Turkey, the Red Sea region, the entire Mediterranean area and the Sultanate of Oman. In addition, SunExpress also connects various cities within Turkey.

Star Alliance: The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognized by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI and United. The integration of Avianca Brasil is currently in progress. Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 18,500 daily flights to 1,321 airports in 193 countries.

Owner. Editor. Reproducer: Austrian Airlines AG. Corporate Communications public.relations@austrian.com. Please find further information concerning the disclosure according to §§ 24 and 25 Media Act on www.austrian.com

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