Peter Gerber Elected New President of the BDL

The members’ assembly of the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) has unanimously elected Peter Gerber as the new president of the association. Gerber will begin his two-year term on June 1, 2020. He succeeds Prof. Klaus-Dieter Scheurle.

Peter Gerber is the CEO of Lufthansa Cargo AG. The 56-year-old lawyer has been employed by the Lufthansa Group since 1992. Since 2009, Gerber has held various executive positions within the group. His appointment as Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo AG took place in 2014.

Peter Gerber on his election: “The current crisis shows how important cross-border passenger and freight transport is for the exchange of people and for international trade. Now it is about working together with politics to create the conditions that will allow us to continue to offer efficient air transport mobility from Germany in the future.”

As the most important tasks for the coming months, Gerber mentioned maintaining the economic basis for a strong and competitive air transport offering and the health-related reliable lifting of existing travel restrictions. “We have developed targeted measures in cooperation with the federal and state governments across modes of transport and are now counting on the governments to enable mobility again on this basis,” said Gerber.

The outgoing BDL president Prof. Scheurle on the election of his successor: “The current crisis shows how important a joint representation of interests for all actors in the industry is. We still have a long time ahead of us in which we must live with the consequences of the pandemic. It is essential that all system partners continue to work hand in hand. The BDL members have elected Peter Gerber as the future president, an experienced aviation manager who has worked in key positions in both passenger and freight transport.”

The BDL presidium thanked Prof. Scheurle for his successful and dedicated tenure as president during his two-year term. The presidium particularly acknowledged that during his presidency, it was possible to implement measures to improve punctuality and reliability in air transport in cooperation with federal and state politics and to initiate a climate protection strategy for air transport. Scheurle will remain a member of the BDL presidium.

Since 2016, the office of BDL president has been a voluntary position that rotates every two years among the member groups in the association. The president is elected from among the members of the presidium. After Klaus-Peter Siegloch, who was still employed full-time by the association, Dr. Stefan Schulte, CEO of Fraport AG (2016-2018), Prof. Klaus-Dieter Scheurle, Chairman of the DFS Executive Board (2018-2020), and now Peter Gerber, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo AG, have been elected to the presidency on a voluntary basis.

The Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) was founded in 2010 as a joint representation of interests for the German aviation industry. Members of the association include airlines, airports, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung, and other service providers in German air transport. The member companies employ more than 180,000 people. The German aviation industry enables mobility for over 200 million passengers annually and contributes to strengthening Germany’s economic location by transporting foreign trade goods worth over 200 billion euros.

Photo: Lufthansa Cargo / Caption: Peter Gerber, new president of the BDL

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