Lufthansa’s Supervisory Board has made official what has been hoped for and speculated about for several weeks.

Carsten Spohr, 47,  has been selected as Lufthansa’s CEO, replacing Christoph Franz who will be leaving his role of CEO on May 1.   It was widely thought that Carsten Spohr was the front runner for the role due to his success at running Lufthansa’s Passenger Airline division.

Mr. Spohr looks to be a popular choice with Airline employees since he had been a pilot for Lufthansa before advancing through leadership positions within the company and many feel that ‘one of their own’ will be running the entire company.

This also bodes well for the continuation of the measures put in place over the last few years to help Lufthansa improve its position in the marketplace as well as to strengthen its balance sheet.

In his comments, Spohr stated “As a Lufthansa man ‘born and bred’, I view the appointment as the new CEO as both an honor and an obligation. I look very much forward to this important task and I am convinced that the company is on the right track. The cornerstones for the future success are in place. Together, we will meet the challenges confidently, willing to embrace change and prepared to deliver on our strategy in order to make our company resilient and ready for the future also beyond 2015.”

Fortunately it looks to be business as usual for LH and no unexpected surprises as far as leadership change is concerned!