Germany’s Dorothea von Boxberg (49) will become the new CEO of Brussels Airlines. The top woman will take the helm of the airline from 15 April. Von Boxberg was, for the past two years, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo, the cargo airline which, like Brussels Airlines, is part of the German airline group Lufthansa. She succeeds at Brussels Airlines Peter Gerber, who resigned immediately at the end of January.

The appointment of von Boxberg is yet to be confirmed by the board of SN Airholding, the holding company above Brussels Airlines. The German will also assume the position of Executive Board representative to the European Commission in Brussels.

‘Record maker’

Von Boxberg is already the fifth CEO since 2018 and the third with a German nationality. She is also the second woman to head the airline, after Christina Foerster. The latter led Brussels Airlines from April 2018 to the end of 2019, and she was also CEO ad interim since Gerber’s departure to industry peer Condor.

Foerster, also chairman of SN Airholding, called von Boxberg “an experienced and capable airline manager who, with her extensive knowledge and broad understanding of cargo and passenger aviation, will continue to drive the successful transformation of Brussels Airlines in the coming years”.

After her first professional experience as a consultant and project manager at the Boston Consulting Group, von Boxberg joined Star Alliance, a grouping of airlines with Lufthansa as a strong partner, in 2005. Two years later, she moved to Lufthansa, where she held several management positions, including thus that of CEO of Lufthansa Cargo.

Von Boxberg is also described as ‘Rekordmacherin’. Last year, she increased sales at Lufthansa Cargo by a fifth to 4,6 million euros. One of von Boxberg’s first tasks is to make Brussels Airlines profitable this year. Last year, the airline made an operating loss of 75 million euros, but its ambition is to record “strong black figures” this year.

Four new aircraft

Moreover, Brussels Airlines’ fleet will be expanded by four aircraft during the summer. This will allow European operations to grow by 10% compared to last summer.

The additional aircraft are medium-haul aircraft. In addition, there are two Airbus A320s to be permanently added to the fleet and two smaller aircraft (CRJ-900, with seats for 88 passengers) leased from Irish CityJet. These will remain in the fleet until the end of October. In partnership with CityJet, Brussels Airlines will serve nine destinations, including a new one: Billund in Denmark.

With the additional aircraft, Brussels Airlines’ fleet will consist of 36 medium-haul and nine long-haul planes during the summer season.