Lufthansa Group has made changes to its management team, with Heike Birlenbach appointed as the new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS). Tamur Goudarzi Pour, the previous CCO of SWISS, will now oversee Customer Experience within the Lufthansa Group. Additionally, Pour will lead a newly established task force focused on enhancing operational stability, punctuality, customer service, customer communication, and baggage processes by 2024.
Heike Birlenbach will start serving as the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at SWISS on January 1, 2024.
She was the person announcing a face recognition system at Lufthansa in Berlin in May this year
Since 2021, she has been in charge of Customer Experience for the Group’s airlines. Before that, she held the position of CCO at Lufthansa Airlines, where she had dual responsibility for sales in the hub airlines. Heike Birlenbach joined Lufthansa in 1990 and has since held various management roles primarily related to sales and product development in London, Amsterdam, Milan, Munich, and Frankfurt. She earned a Master of Management degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Tamur Goudarzi Pour will assume the role of leading the Lufthansa Group’s Customer Experience division starting January 1, 2024. He will also take charge of a company-wide taskforce dedicated to enhancing customer satisfaction in the coming year. The areas of operational stability and customer interaction will receive special attention, with the aim of consolidating various initiatives and implementing measures to improve offerings and services. Previously serving as the CCO of SWISS since 2019, Tamur Goudarzi Pour brings a wealth of experience, having held positions responsible for sales in The Americas region and the Middle East & Africa region in the past. He joined the Lufthansa Group in 2000 and holds a Master of Philosophy in International Relations from the University of Cambridge.
Christina Foerster, Member of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Group, says: “I would like to thank Heike Birlenbach for her outstanding cooperation. In challenging times, she has played a key role in shaping product development and the offering for our guests. I look forward to working with Tamur Goudarzi Pour in the future. With his great expertise and many years of experience in commercial areas and his profound knowledge of the needs of our customers, he will decisively advance the product, quality, and premium initiatives of Lufthansa Group Airlines.”
Dieter Vranckx, CEO of SWISS, says: “I would like to thank Tamur Goudarzi Pour for his great commitment to SWISS. After the difficult Covid years, he played a major role in the rapid recovery of SWISS from the crisis and its emergence as one of Europe’s most profitable airlines. I am delighted to welcome Heike Birlenbach, a proven airline expert, on board at SWISS. With her broad expertise, particularly in the commercial areas, she is a very good fit for our team, both personally and professionally.”
