By Kim Jae-heun
Lufthansa Group has appointed Alain Chisari as its new vice president in charge of sales for Asia Pacific.
He will start his duties in September.
Chisari will manage and direct sales of Lufthansa Group _ Lufthansa Airlines and its partners including Swiss International Air Lines and Austrian Airlines _ and Brussels Airlines.
"We are very pleased we could win Alain Chisari to take over this important position for the Lufthansa Group Airlines in Asia Pacific," Chief Commercial Officer Heike Birlenbach said in a statement.
"With his experience in fields such as sales and distribution, network planning and online marketing developments, he will contribute to the success of the business in the region."
Chisari has held several key positions in the airline industry over the last 20 years.
He has served as the chief commercial officer and a member of the management board at Edelweiss Air AG, the sister company of Swiss International Airlines, for the last five years.
He also held various positions with Delta Air Lines in Germany, Austria, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Chisari had also worked in corporate sales for British Airways and American Airlines.
"I am very excited to embark on this new journey in a dynamic and vibrant region. Asia Pacific is growing at an exponential rate. I am really looking forward to being part of, driving and leading Lufthansa Group Airlines in Asia Pacific into continuing success," Chisari said.
"A few of the key objectives are to focus on current joint venture and partnership opportunities with Asian carriers as well as maximizing Lufthansa Group's digitization and innovation initiatives in the markets."
Chisari was born in Switzerland and earned an executive master's degree in management at SGMI, St. Gallen.
He speaks fluent German, English, Swedish, French and Italian.
Lufthansa came under criticism in Korea in February after deciding to remove Dokdo, Korea's easternmost islets that Japan also claims as its own, from its in-flight map.
The decision came after a Japanese passenger's complaint about the description of Dokdo, which was written in English and Japanese, on a Tokyo-Munich flight in December.
The passenger claimed the name should be "Takeshima."