Swiss names new CEO

Christoph Franz earned his stripes at Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn Keystone

Switzerland’s troubled national airline has named a German, Christoph Franz, as its new chief executive.

Franz, who takes up his position at Swiss in July, previously worked for the German airline, Lufthansa, and Germany’s national railway, Deutsche Bahn.

Franz was chosen from a final shortlist of six. The selection process was led by Swiss chairman and acting CEO, Pieter Bouw.

“Swiss chose Christoph Franz because of his track record in various sectors of the transport industry,” the airline said in a statement.

“His specific know-how in the field of turnaround management was also a deciding factor in his favour.”

The 43-year-old has held several senior posts at Lufthansa and was a member of the team that oversaw the airline’s restructuring programme in the 1990s.

Franz also held a range of positions at Deutsche Bahn.

The Swiss finance minister, Hans-Rudolf Merz, expressed his satisfaction that the appointment had been made so quickly.

“It is impressive that the management at Swiss has managed to fill this important position in such a short space of time,” said Merz in an interview with Swiss television.

Restructuring

Franz’s appointment ends more than a month of speculation about who would replace André Dosé.

Dosé unexpectedly stepped down as CEO in March, after becoming entangled in an investigation into a Crossair plane crash two years ago.

Franz, who starts work at Swiss next month before officially becoming CEO on July 1, will have the task of turning the airline’s financial fortunes around.

But the airline says that both it and the Swiss government are confident that Dosé’s successor is up to the job.

“The government is sure that Christoph Franz will lead the airline through its restructuring programme and secure the company a strong place in the market,” Swiss said in its statement.

Swiss has been losing money ever since it took to the skies in 2002.

Last year the airline reported an operating loss of SFr498 million ($386 million) – an improvement on 2002, when it lost SFr909 million.

Positive reactions

The market reacted positively to news of Franz’s appointment, with shares in Swiss climbing more than 12 per cent to reach SFr11.40 during early trading on Tuesday.

“The not easy filling [of the CEO position] comes surprisingly quickly,” commented Patrik Schwendimann, an analyst at Zurich Cantonal Bank.

“This is generally of advantage to Swiss as it reduces the factor of uncertainty…but Franz’s task will not be simple,” he added.

The Swiss Business Federation, economiesuisse, said it was confident that Franz would lead the airline into the black.

Switzerland’s political parties also broadly welcomed the appointment.

The centre-left Social Democrats said it would have been “inconceivable” for Swiss to remain without a CEO for months on end.

The new president of the centre-right Radical Party, Rolf Schweiger, said it was “a positive sign that Franz had previously worked in the transport sector”.

Up to the job?

However, there was some surprise at the choice, as Franz is relatively unknown in Switzerland.

Aviation expert Sepp Moser was sceptical about Franz’s appointment, saying it would make no difference to the fundamental problem that the airline was simply too big for its market.

Moser also questioned Franz’s credentials as an airline boss.

“He has no executive experience. That doesn’t mean he has got to be bad,” he said.

“But that is not the problem, the problem is the airline’s structures and financial situation.”

swissinfo with agencies