SWISS Board of Directors

29.05.2024 - 13:07 / traveldailynews.com / Theodore Koumelis

SWISS reconstitutes its Board of Directors reducing from five to three members, enhancing governance efficiency.

SWISS reconstitutes its Board of Directors with effect from 1 July 2024. André Blattmann and Ashwin Bhat will relinquish their Board seats after commendable service on the Swiss airline’s behalf. Dieter Vranckx, the departing SWISS CEO, will newly join the Board of Directors, succeeding Remco Steenbergen. The changes will reduce the number of Board members from five to three.

Having completed the company’s restructuring in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Board of Directors of Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has conducted a reappraisal of its own structure over the past few months. In the light of this, the Board has recommended to the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) that it be reconstituted and resized. The future SWISS Board of Directors will consist of three members instead of the present five, to ensure that it is adequately constituted in line with the new SWISS organization. The AGM approved the recommendation, and the corresponding changes will enter into effect on 1 July 2024.

Present Board of Directors members André Blattmann and Ashwin Bhat will relinquish their seats. “Our company owes them both its sincere thanks,” says Board Chairman Reto Francioni. “They have both contributed their invaluable expertise. And it has been an honour and a pleasure to work with them.”

André Blattmann has been a member of the SWISS Board of Directors since January 2018. “André Blattmann was instrumental in helping us navigate our company through one of the most serious crises in its history,” Reto Francioni continues. “His support in those times – particularly in our dealings with the Swiss federal authorities – was of inestimable benefit. He has also helped maintain a firm focus on Swissness and our Swiss values as vital components in SWISS’s DNA.”

Ashwin Bhat has been a member of the SWISS Board of Directors since February 2023. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa Cargo and previously led, among other things, the Cargo division at SWISS for six years. “With his comprehensive airline expertise, especially in the airfreight sector, Ashwin Bhat has also been a vital source of advice and support for SWISS,” confirms Reto Francioni.

Remco Steenbergen served until recently as Chief Financial Officer of the Lufthansa Group, but has now left the Group to take on a new professional challenge. He will be succeeded on the SWISS Board of Directors by Dieter Vranckx, who was recently appointed to the Lufthansa Group Executive Board. “My thanks go also to Remco Steenbergen, who has provided vital input and ideas during his time on our Board of Directors,” says Reto Francioni. “