Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, the leading European airline, today announced the appointment of Ms Martina Groenegres as General Manager for Beijing and Chief Representative China. Ms Groenegres, who takes up her appointment on 1 September 2008, will be responsible for overseeing the passenger airline’s operations, sales and marketing functions in Northern China and Mongolia. She succeeds Mr Gregor Wende who will take over a new assignment at Lufthansa's headquarters in Germany. 

"I am delighted to announce the appointment of Ms. Martina Groenegres as the new General Manager for Beijing", said Mr. Uwe Mueller, Vice President Asia & Pacific, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines. "Over the past 12 years, Ms. Groenegres has demonstrated her abilities in China and has a great combination of experience and expertise to successfully undertake the job. We firmly believe she will be an asset to Lufthansa as the General Manager in this market."

Ms Groenegres has a deep understanding of Chinese culture and is fluent in Mandarin after living for almost 20 years in China. She joined Lufthansa in 1996 and worked in a number of key positions dealing with government, business partners and customers. Before her new appointment she was General Manager, Customer Services and Support Center based in Shanghai for four years.

"We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Mr. Gregor Wende, the outgoing General Manager, who has made a major contribution towards putting Lufthansa on the map in Beijing and the rest of Asia. During his tenure, Lufthansa has doubled its services to and from Beijing and further cemented its leading position in this market," said Mr Mueller.

Lufthansa is the leading European airline in China. In 1980, the airline commenced operations with three weekly scheduled flights to and from Beijing. Now, the airline offers daily flights to Frankfurt and Munich, respectively.  The airline has expanded its services to Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as Nanjing and Shenyang early this year. In the greater China area, Lufthansa offers 58 weekly flights between China and Europe, including 44 weekly flights to and from China, and 14 weekly flights to and from Hong Kong.

About Lufthansa

Lufthansa Group is a fully privatised group of companies offering air transport services including passenger airlines, logistics, flight catering, aircraft maintenance and information technology.  The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance, which has 21 international airline partners and has developed one of the most comprehensive alliance networks in the industry.