Stefan Pichler

Last updated
Stefan Pichler
Close up-profile pic.jpg
Born (1957-11-07) November 7, 1957 (age 65)
Munich, Germany
NationalityGerman
CitizenshipGermany
Education University of Augsburg
OccupationAirline Executive
Known forServed as CEO of various airline companies

Stefan Pichler (born November 7, 1957) is a global airline and tourism Chief Executive. [1] [2] Most recently he was President and CEO of Royal Jordanian. Previously, Pichler was the Managing Director and CEO of Air Berlin, [3] served as Managing Director and CEO of Fiji Airways, as the CEO of Jazeera Airways, Chairman and CEO of Thomas Cook AG and Chairman of the Bundesverband der Deutschen Tourismuswirtschaft, as well as Chairman of Fiji Tourism. Additionally, he has held Senior and Executive Board roles as a CCO at Virgin Australia and at Lufthansa. [3]

Contents

In November 2014, Air Berlin appointed Pichler as CEO effective February 2015. [4] [5] After signing the restructuring deals with Lufthansa and Etihad, Pichler left to lead Royal Jordanian Airlines. Pichler then developed a turnaround plan for Royal Jordanian which helped to return to profitability by the end of FY 2017. [6] Royal Jordanian also posted a sharp increase in the operating results and net income in 2018 and 2019. [7] Pichler announced his retirement effective 30 September 2020. [8]

Early life and education

Pichler was born and raised in Munich, Germany. [9] He received a master's degree in economics and law from the University of Augsburg and a post graduate degree from INSEAD. [10]

Career

In 1983, Pichler began his career as Head of Sport Promotions for Nike in Beaverton, Oregon. [1] [3] Pichler became the Marketing and Sales Director of France for Lufthansa in 1989. [2] In 1991, Lufthansa appointed Pichler Managing Director for Lufthansa France, based in Paris. [2] He was promoted to Head of Worldwide Sales for Lufthansa in 1996 and appointment as a member of Lufthansa's Executive Board the following year. [2] [11] In January 2000, Pichler was appointed CEO of Thomas Cook AG, a national tour operator. [2] [12] He helped develop the company to the world's second largest leisure group. [2]

Focus ranked Pichler number one on its list of the "Top 30 Tourism Managers" in 2003 for the third consecutive year. [12] The following year he was appointed Chief Commercial Officer and Chairman of Virgin Australia. [13] In 2009, Pichler joined Jazeera Airways as CEO. [13] In 2011, the airline's operating profit margin was the second highest in the global airline industry (25.6%) and in 2012, the margin was 30.2%. [13] He received the "Personal Achievement of the Year Award" at the Aviation Business Awards for making the airline profitable in 2012. [14] In September 2013, Pichler was appointed Managing Director and CEO of Fiji Airways. [1] [13] [15] He was promoted to Chairman of Tourism Fiji in August 2014. [16] [17]

Additionally, Pichler served as a member of the Board of Tourism Australia and held roles at the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the Tourism Working Group of the World Economic Forum. [17] He has also held non-executive director of major German corporations including Deutsche Bank and Steigenberger Hotels. [2]

In November 2014, Air Berlin appointed Pichler CEO effective February 2015. [10] [4] [18] [19] With the support of Etihad Airways, Pichler developed a strategic restructuring plan which resulted in dividing the company into 3 separate business units: the first unit was to provide 40 aircraft to Lufthansa Group per wet lease agreement. the second unit, the touristic business including the Austrian daughter company Niki, was sold to Etihad Airways who invested this stake into a joint venture with TUI Group. And the third unit, New Airberlin, was redesigned to become a network carrier serving the hubs in Duesseldorf and Berlin. [20] All those deals were concluded in December 2016 were designed to enable a new start for airberlin which had lost over 3 billion Euros in the last 10 years.

Also in December 2016, he announced his resignation as CEO of Air Berlin effective January 31, 2017 and left to lead Royal Jordanian into a turnaround. [21]

Personal life

Pichler is a former internationally ranked marathon runner and ran for the German national team. [2] [9] [22]

Related Research Articles

Royal Jordanian Airlines, formerly known as AliaRoyal Jordanian Airlines, is the flag carrier airline of Jordan with its head office in the capital, Amman. The airline operates scheduled international services over four continents from its main base at Queen Alia International Airport, with over 500 flights per week and at least 110 daily departures. It joined the Oneworld airline alliance in 2007.

Air Malta plc is the flag carrier airline of Malta, with its headquarters in Luqa and its hub at Malta International Airport. It operates services to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Düsseldorf Airport</span> International airport in Düsseldorf, Germany

Düsseldorf Airport is the international airport of Düsseldorf, the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is about 7 kilometres (4 mi) north of downtown Düsseldorf, and some 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of Essen in the Rhine-Ruhr area, Germany's largest metropolitan area.

Oneworld is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international travellers. Its central alliance office is in New York City and includes 13 member airlines: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian and SriLankan Airlines, as well as Fiji Airways as a Oneworld Connect partner. On 20 June 2022, Oman Air announced it would formally join the alliance by 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Berlin</span> Defunct budget airline of Germany (1978—2017)

Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG, branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was headquartered in Berlin and had hubs at Berlin Tegel Airport and Düsseldorf Airport. It was a member of the oneworld airline alliance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag carrier</span> Transport company with preferential status

A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.

Fiji Airways is the flag carrier airline of Fiji and operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 13 countries and 26 cities including, Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands (Oceania), Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Canada and the United States. It has an extended network of 108 international destinations through its codeshare partners. The Fiji Airways Group brings in 64 percent of all visitors who fly to Fiji, employs over 1000 employees, and earns revenues of over FJD$815 million (US$390m).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etihad Airways</span> Airline of the United Arab Emirates

Etihad Airways is one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates. Its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, near Abu Dhabi International Airport. Etihad commenced operations in November 2003. It is the second-largest airline in the UAE after Emirates and one of the "Lakhs of Luxuries" in the world. The name Etihad is Arabic for 'Union'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German Airways</span> Former German regional airline headquartered in Cologne.

German Airways Fluggesellschaft GmbH, operating as German Airways and formerly named Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter or LGW for short, was a German regional airline headquartered in Düsseldorf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niki (airline)</span> Defunct low-cost airline from Austria (2003—2017)

Niki was an Austrian low-cost airline headquartered in Office Park I at Vienna International Airport in Schwechat. It operated scheduled and charter services to European and North African leisure destinations from Vienna, Salzburg, Graz and Innsbruck and also started services from several German airports in March 2017. Niki had a variety of owners, including two stints of ownership under Niki Lauda (1949–2019). In January 2018, the airline was acquired by Lauda, an airline that also had ties to Niki Lauda.

Air Astana is an airline group based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It operates scheduled international and domestic services on 64 routes from its main hub, Almaty International Airport, and from its secondary hub, Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport. It is a joint venture between Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna (51%), and BAE Systems PLC (49%). It was incorporated in October 2001 and started commercial flights on 15 May 2002. It is one of a small number airlines which has required neither government subsidy nor shareholder financial support to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus preserving its central corporate principle of financial, managerial and operational independence.

Oman Air is the national airline of the Sultanate of Oman. Based at Muscat International Airport in Seeb, Muscat, it operates domestic and international passenger services, as well as regional air taxi and charter flights.

Darwin Airline SA was a Swiss regional airline with its head office in Bioggio, Lugano flying under the brand name Adria Airways Switzerland. It operated scheduled domestic and international services in some western European countries. It used the brand name Etihad Regional from January 2014 to July 2017, when Etihad Airways sold its 33% stake to the owner of Adria Airways. It previously also operated flights on behalf of Alitalia. Its bases were Geneva Airport and Lugano Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TUI fly Deutschland</span> German airline

TUI fly Deutschland, formerly TUIfly, is a German leisure airline owned by the travel and tourism company TUI Group. It is headquartered at Hannover Airport with bases at several other German airports. TUI fly Deutschland is part of TUI Group's airline unit.

Christoph R. Mueller is a German businessman. From 2016 to 2019, he was chief digital and innovation officer of Emirates Group. He is the former chief executive officer of Malaysia Airlines. With over 25 years' experience as a turnaround specialist in the aviation, logistic and tourism industry, Mueller has been widely credited with leading the financial recovery of Aer Lingus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hogan (businessman)</span> Australian airline executive

James Reginald Hogan, is an Australian airline executive. Between 2006 and mid-2017, he was the President and CEO of Etihad Airways, one of the national airlines of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Thomas Winkelmann is a German businessman and was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the former German airline Air Berlin until it ceased operations in October 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITA Airways</span> Flag carrier airline of Italy since 2021

Italia Trasporto Aereo S.p.A., trading as ITA Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Italy. It is fully owned by the Government of Italy via the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The airline flies to over 60 scheduled domestic, European, and a few intercontinental destinations. ITA Airways is a member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Stefan Pichler Leads Fiji Airways". September 6, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Virgin Blue Appoints Stefan Pichler as CCO". October 13, 2004. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Rüdiger Kiani-Kreß (November 10, 2014). "So tickt der neue Air-Berlin-Chef" . Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Richard Weiss (November 3, 2014). "Air Berlin Lures Ex-Lufthansa Manager Pichler From Fiji as Chief". Bloomberg News . Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  5. ↑ Frank-Thomas Wenzel (November 4, 2014). "Stefan Pichler wird neuer Air-Berlin-Chef" . Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  6. ↑ name="http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=750a4028-2238-49b6-9a66-94926ed3d5d3
  7. ↑ "Royal Jordanian Net Profit in First 9 Months Up by 139%". aviationtribune.com. Archived from the original on 2019-11-06.
  8. ↑ "Departing Royal Jordanian CEO sees more airline consolidation with regional travel set for faster recovery". 13 October 2020.
  9. 1 2 Grant Bradley (September 25, 2013). "Marathon run for new Fiji Airways chief" . Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  10. 1 2 Ernst August Ginten (November 3, 2014). "Neuer Air-Berlin-Chef übernimmt Schleudersitz". Die Welt. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Lufthansa". February 26, 1997. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  12. 1 2 "Die Top 30 Tourismus-Manager". March 10, 2003. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Fiji Airways' new MD Stefan Pichler sets his sights on the next five years for the rebranded airline". September 19, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  14. ↑ Ruchi Shroff (November 8, 2012). "Etihad and flydubai win big at Aviation Business Awards 2012" . Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Pichler's Strategy". October 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  16. ↑ Anne Majumdar (August 20, 2014). "Tourism Fiji to expand reach with Pichler as chairman" . Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  17. 1 2 "Stefan Pichler Announced as New Chair of Tourism Fiji". August 21, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Stefan Pichler appointed CEO of airberlin group". November 3, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Congratulations to Stefan Pichler, currently Managing Director of GAC member Fiji Airways". November 4, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Air Berlin: Wird die Krisen-Airline jetzt zerschlagen?".
  21. ↑ "Air-Berlin-Chef tritt ab - Lufthansa-Manager übernimmt" (in German). 18 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  22. ↑ Stefan Eiselin (November 3, 2014). "Air Berlin holt Marathon-Mann" . Retrieved December 14, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.