Carsten Spohr

Carsten Spohr has been Chair of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa since 2014. In this respect, he works in a growth industry and, in the medium term, has to make his company climate neutral. In principle, the trained engineer and holder of a pilot’s license believes in climate-neutral flying. However, he doubts that the goal set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) of zero net CO₂ emissions by 2050 is achievable. In a recent interview, he said that airlines cannot achieve this alone as technical progress is too slow, both in terms of new aircraft and green fuels. It is up to politics to help, he says. Spohr has criticized the automotive industry’s plans to use e-fuels in road transport as well: Their use in aviation makes much more sense, he believes. Last year, his group achieved a turnover of EUR 37.6 billion, six percent more than in the previous year. However, Lufthansa’s operating profit of EUR 1.6 billion was significantly below the previous year’s result of EUR 2.7 billion.