Lufthansa Group names new APAC marketing head

Lufthansa Group has appointed Kathleen de Canha (pictured) as head of marketing, APAC. She was formerly marketing and communications manager at Lufthansa Systems. During her time there, she was tasked with planning and executing regional customer events, and was also responsible for ensuring corporate design guidelines from central corporate marketing and corporate communications departments are executed and maintained accordingly, her LinkedIn stated. Other responsibilities included forecasts and budget planning of marketing and communication campaigns.

Prior to that, Cnaha was marketing communications manager at Catalunya, where she developed marketing strategies and objectives such as creation of promotions and qualitative branding. Canha was also previously marketing and communications manager at Gill Capital and, before that, luxury lifestyle manager at Micah Astor.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Lufthansa and Canha for comment.

The Lufthansa Group generated 16.8 billion euros in the fiscal year 2021, a 24% increase from the previous year (13.6 billion euros). According to a statement by Lufthansa Group, an increase in passengers, the transformation and restructuring of the company, and the associated cost reductions contributed to a significant improvement in earnings. Its operating loss was significantly reduced despite new waves of high infection rates and the resulting travel restrictions. It's adjusted EBIT in 2021 was -2.3 billion euros, compared with an EBIT of -5.5 billion euros in 2020. 

The Lufthansa Group also expects a significant increase in demand for air travel in the current year. The group said in a statement that its customers have booked more flight tickets last month than at any time since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of bookings for the Easter and summer holiday periods has also almost reached pre-pandemic levels (2019). Accommodating to the increased demand for travel, Lufthansa said it will offer more than 50 additional flights for the Easter vacations. 

Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa, said that the pent up demand for leisure and business travel was already significantly noticeable in 2021, and this trend is set to intensify in 2022. "Our strategy of expanding the private travel segment has proved successful and is paying off. People want to travel. They seek and need personal contact - especially after two years of pandemic and the associated social restrictions," he added.

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