Matthias Spohr appointed chief operating officer at Eurowings

Matthias Spohr joined the Eurowings Executive Board as chief operating officer on 1 October 2026. He takes over from Edi Wolfensberger, who is leaving to become chief executive of Edelweiss, another carrier in the Lufthansa Group.

Spohr's remit covers flying, cabin and ground activities, operational control, safety and security, compliance, crew instruction and the technical side of fleet management. He sits on a three-member board alongside chief executive Max Kownatzki and chief financial officer Kai Duve.

It is a return to the airline for Spohr, who from 2015 to 2021 led flight operations there and held the nominated person role for that area. Kownatzki pointed to his operational background and his existing knowledge of the carrier and its staff.

Spohr, 56, started flying training at Lufthansa's school in Bremen in 1990 and later flew Airbus A320 and A340 aircraft for the group. He became an A320 captain at Condor Berlin in 2005, and in 2013 moved to Germanwings to head its A320 fleet.

From 2021 he ran Lufthansa Aviation Training, where his work included restructuring and relaunching the European Flight Academy and building out the group's training operations. He is the younger brother of Lufthansa Group chief executive Carsten Spohr, 59.