Kurth leads Hapag-Lloyd Express
German leisure group TUI has given the job of launching its first venture into the low-cost sector to its most experienced airline manager Wolfgang Kurth.
He has been named chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd Express, the no-frills carrier aiming to start operations from Cologne to several European cities and on German domestic routes in December.
Kurth, who is the first member of the start-up's senior management team, has been responsible for drawing together TUI's six charter carriers under one structure since early 2001 as TUI divisional director airlines. The carriers in the group include Germany's Hapag-Lloyd and the UK's Britannia Airways.
"In the last year he has successfully created and implemented our single airline platform at TUI Airline Management," says Charles Gurassa, TUI executive director airlines.
The team at Hapag-Lloyd Express will only amount to 25 people, as the flight operations are being performed by TUI's partner in the venture, Germania.
Other members of the management team are being sought, with some positions filled by executives from within the group, and others recruited from outside. An internal appointment sees Hapag-Lloyd's Ralf Kaeppler joining the low-cost arm as its commercial and finance head.
Kurth began his airline career in 1977 in the central organisation department of Lufthansa in Cologne, before moving to Hapag-Lloyd in 1979. He joined the carrier's management board in 1990, and was named chairman in 1998.
Mark Pilling London
Source: Airline Business
