The former CEO of Brussels Airlines Christina Foerster has been appointed co-chairwoman of SN Airholding, the parent company of the Belgian airline and a 100% subsidiary of Lufthansa. Foerster had already been a member of the Board of the holding company for almost three months.
Christina Foerster will replace Thorsten Dirks, who recently announced his departure from the Lufthansa Group on disagreements about cancelled bonuses. She will chair SN Airholding alongside Jan Smets, a former Governor of the National Bank of Belgium, who himself replaces Count Etienne Davignon since mid-April.
According to financial newspaper De Tijd, the departure of Thorsten Dirks removes a stumbling block to the rescue of Brussels Airlines, for which Lufthansa asks the Belgian federal government for 290 to 390 million euros. According to the Flemish newspaper, the lack of confidence between the Belgian negotiators and Dirks, who was not only co-chairman of SN Airholding, but also chief negotiator for Lufthansa, was one of the reasons why discussions have still not yet come to a conclusion.
When Christina Foerster was CEO of Brussels Airlines, she reported to Thorsten Dirks, who at the time was CEO of Eurowings into which Lufthansa wanted to integrate the Belgian airline. Now she replaces him in a more prestigious position.
