Lufthansa Group has announced the death of former executive board chair Jurgen Weber, who is credited with fundamentally rebuilding the German operator and establishing it as a pioneer of airline alliances.
Weber, who has passed away at the age of 83, climbed to the top position at Lufthansa in 1991 having steadily risen through its aircraft maintenance and technical divisions.
He initiated a tough restructuring plan in an effort to rescue the company, which was suffering heavy losses, and sought to establish a competitive position through globalisation – expanding through tie-ups with other major operators.
Lufthansa reached a comprehensive agreement with United Airlines in 1993, the building blocks of a partnership strategy which expanded to Air Canada, SAS and Thai Airways – the initial members of a new family named Star Alliance.
Weber oversaw Lufthansa’s evolution as a group of subsidiary companies each specialising in particular operations, as well as its emergence as a privatised air transport company. The company started trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange in October 1997, just five months after Star Alliance was founded.
He steered the company through the economic turbulence which followed the events of 11 September 2001, and also signed the carrier’s initial agreement for Airbus A380s.
“Lufthansa as we know it today would be unthinkable without Jurgen Weber,” says supervisory board chair Karl Ludwig Kley.
“He shaped and moulded the company. He understood the unifying power of air travel. The founding of the Star Alliance and the expansion of Frankfurt airport are largely his achievements.”
Weber moved on to the supervisory board in 2003, to be succeed as chief executive by Wolfgang Mayrhuber. He remained as supervisory board chair until 2013, subsequently being named as honorary chairman.
Current chief Carsten Spohr says Weber was known as ‘Mr Lufthansa’, adding: “He dedicated his entire professional life to our company and shaped it.
“Like no other, Jurgen Weber embodied the renewal of Lufthansa during its restructuring and privatisation in the 1990s.
“We at Lufthansa owe Jurgen Weber a debt of gratitude for his outstanding service to the Lufthansa Group.”
