Markus Binkert, former long-serving member of SWISS’s management corps and Management Board and currently CCO of Lufthansa’s Munich hub, is to assume the previously vacant position of SWISS Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect. In a further move, Thomas Frick, Accountable Manager and Member of the SWISS Extended Management Board, is to assume the restored Management Board function of Chief Operating Officer. Both appointments are an immediate response to the major challenges which the company is currently facing as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is reorganizing its Management Board in response to the repercussions of the coronavirus. Reto Francioni, Chairman of the SWISS Board of Directors: “In view of the highly dynamic developments in the situation through the spread of the coronavirus, we have strengthened our Management Board in personnel terms. In times as demanding as these, we must be fully capable of action in every area and stock our Management Board with additional expertise and professionalism to ensure we are ready to handle this exceptional situation. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our employees and managers for their great work and commitment during this difficult phase. Here at SWISS we are doing everything possible to maintain the mobility which is so vital to the Swiss economy and the country as a whole so that we can restore it to previous levels rapidly, and with as little damage as possible, once this crisis is over.”
The previously vacant SWISS Management Board position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will be assumed with immediate effect by Markus Binkert, Chief Commercial Officer of Lufthansa’s Munich hub. And Thomas Frick, SWISS Accountable Manager and Member of the Extended Management Board, assumes the reintroduced Management Board position of Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Markus Binkert new Chief Financial Officer
Markus Binkert (48) served on a team of external consultants between 2001 and 2005 which initiated SWISS’s successful turnaround in its early years. He then moved to SWISS in 2005, and went on to hold various management and leadership positions within the commercial field. In 2013 he was appointed Chief Commercial Officer and a Member of the Management Board. At the beginning of 2019 he moved to Munich, to become Chief Commercial Officer of the Lufthansa hub. Markus Binkert assumes his new SWISS CFO duties with immediate effect.
“I am very pleased that, in Markus Binkert, Lufthansa has enabled such a long-serving SWISS top manager to occupy our vacant CFO position, which will be so vitally important in the present times,” says SWISS CEO Thomas Klühr. “In addition to his broad and comprehensive business and industry expertise, Markus will also be able to contribute his invaluable know-how and experience from SWISS’s difficult turnaround years.”
Markus Binkert holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago with a major in finance. A native of Zurich, he is married and has two children.
Thomas Frick new Chief Operating Officer
Thomas Frick (60) will assume his new duties as SWISS’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) and a Member of the Management Board at the beginning of April. In his new capacity he will be responsible for all the company’s flight operations affairs and activities.
Thomas Frick has been in the aviation industry since 1982. He initially served as a pilot with Swissair, and later with SWISS. Since 2002 he has also held various management positions in addition to his flying duties, and is currently the company’s Accountable Manager (the individual responsible to the regulatory authorities for SWISS’s flight operations).
“In Thomas Frick we have a long-serving and highly proficient executive within our ranks,” comments CEO Thomas Klühr. “In view of the present challenges, we are now bringing Thomas onto our Management Board, to give us additional security that we will be able to meet and master this extremely challenging situation.”
Thomas Frick is a native of Schaffhausen and has two adult children.
The new SWISS Management Board thus comprises Thomas Klühr (CEO), Tamur Goudarzi Pour (CCO), Markus Binkert (CFO) and Thomas Frick (COO). In view of the new constellation, the Extended Management Board is abolished. Responsibility for Human Resources reverts to CEO Thomas Klühr.
