CFO Marcel Klaus to leave the company

Chief Financial Officer Marcel Klaus has decided to leave Swiss International Air Lines after 12 years with the company. Klaus, who is 51, intends to take a sabbatical before pursuing new professional goals. He will leave SWISS in July.

Marcel Klaus has extensive experience in both the airline and the financial sector. He began his career 20 years ago with the then Crossair in Basel, and has served SWISS in key executive financial capacities (including Head of Group Controlling) since its beginnings in 2001. He played a vital role in its challenging corporate turnaround, and was appointed CFO in 2006 following the company’s acquisition by the Lufthansa Group.

“I will miss the SWISS culture, the team spirit and our dynamic industry environment,” Klaus says. “But after spending such a good part of my working life with the company, including seven years as CFO, I feel it’s time to take a new path and seek new perspectives. And I’m greatly looking forward to whatever challenges the future may hold.”

As CFO, Marcel Klaus is also responsible for SWISS’s cargo and IT units. He additionally serves on the boards of directors of the company’s Swiss European Air Lines and Swiss AviationSoftware subsidiaries, and as chairman of the board of further subsidiary Swiss AviationTraining. Within the broader Lufthansa Group he is currently project leader at SWISS for the groupwide SCORE results enhancement programme.

Marcel Klaus has been instrumental in establishing and refining the efficient structures, clear responsibilities, keen cost-awareness and short decision-making channels that SWISS can rely on in its Finance Division today. He has also been responsible for consolidating Swiss WorldCargo’s strategy as an autonomous business unit and further developing its role and success as a provider of quality niche cargo transport products.

“In Marcel Klaus we are losing a talented, experienced and highly-valued member of our top-management team,” adds CEO Harry Hohmeister. “Our company has a lot to thank Marcel for. We are very sorry to see him go; and we wish him every continued success and satisfaction, both professionally and personally, in the years ahead.”

Marcel Klaus will remain SWISS CFO until July. The Board of Directors will appoint his successor in the next few months.