In reports coming out of Europe, it appears that Lufthansa Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Christoph Franz, is leaving the airline and is being reported that he will be joining Swiss drugmaker Roche. Franz has been on Roche’s board of directors since 2011. Christoph Franz has been the CEO of Lufthansa Group since January of 2011 and his contract was set to expire in March 2014.
German newspaper Die Welt initially reported the surprising news since Franz is currently steering the airline through a dramatic internal restructuring and his departure would come before the completion of the program. Roche’s board of directors is meeting on September 26 and 27 to elect a new Chairman so I expect that Franz’s departure will be finalized in the next few days.
I’ll update this as more information becomes available.
