Germany’s Lufthansa Group has announced the death of its former chief executive, Wolfgang Mayrhuber.

He had stepped down early from his position as supervisory board chairman last year, succeeded by Karl-Ludwig Kley.

Lufthansa had not elaborated on Mayrhuber’s decision at the time but, in a statement, it says Mayrhuber passed away on 1 December following a “serious illness”.

Mayrhuber had a long association with the company, having begun his career in the engineering division in Hamburg more than four decades ago.

He became the chairman of its Lufthansa Technik maintenance operation in 1994 before being promoted to the company’s executive board.

Mayrhuber took over as Lufthansa chief executive, from Jurgen Weber, in 2003 and oversaw the consolidation of the company with Swiss International Air Lines, Brussels Airlines, and Austrian Airlines.

He left the role in 2010, to be succeeded by Christoph Franz, but was appointed chairman of the supervisory board in 2013.

Source: Cirium Dashboard