Sawt Falasteen - Lufthansa keeps CEO Spohr on for another five years

Lufthansa's supervisory board agreed to keep Spohr, 56, in the role until December 2028, the company said in a statement.

Spohr "has not only mastered the most difficult crises and challenges but has also been responsible for the three most economically successful years in the group's history," said supervisory board chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley.

Spohr has been at the helm of Lufthansa since 2014.

The airline, one of Europe's biggest, was plunged into crisis in 2020 when travel restrictions at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic brought global air travel to a near-standstill.

To save the group from bankruptcy, the German government stepped in with a nine-billion-euro ($9.5-billion) rescue package.

But passenger demand rebounded strongly once the travel curbs eased, and Lufthansa was able to repay the bailout ahead of schedule in 2021.

The group is due to announce its 2022 financial results on Friday, expected to show adjusted operating profits of around 1.5 billion euros -- a far cry from the 2.3-billion-euro loss it made in 2021.

Lufthansa's supervisory board on Thursday also agreed to extend the contract of chief financial officer Remco Steenbergen by another five years.

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST