Carsten Spohr: Lufthansa Head

Carsten Spohr was born on December 16, 1966 in Wanne-Eickel, Germany. He earned a degree in industrial engineering at Karlsruhe University. He then qualified for a commercial airlines pilot’s license from the Lufthansa Flight Training School in Bremen and Phoenix. Carsten subsequently completed a management training course at Deutsche Aerospace AG in Munich.  He holds a Lufthansa captain’s license for the aircraft of the Airbus A320 family.

He took over the personnel recruiting department of Lufthansa in October 1994. Carsten was a personal assistant to the CEO and Chairman of Lufthansa from 1995 to 1998. He then assumed responsibility in August 1998 for Lufthansa’s partnerships in Europe as Head of Regional Partner Management. Carsten became Vice President for Alliances & Cooperations in February 2000, with responsibility for managing and coordinating Lufthansa’s partners worldwide, including the Star Alliance and regional partners.

More promotions came along the way. He was appointed CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo in January 2007. In January 2011, Carsten became a Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and CEO of Lufthansa German Airlines.

Carsten finally got the top position of CEO of Europe’s largest airline by volume, Deutsche Lufthansa AG on February 2014. He has the challenge task of continuing the restructuring plan initiated by his predecessor and finding innovative ways to deal with fierce competitors.