SWISS has announced an imminent change in its top management: Heike Birlenbach, presently Senior Vice President Customer Experience Lufthansa Group Airlines, is to become SWISS Chief Commercial Officer with effect from 1 January 2024. She succeeds Tamur Goudarzi Pour, who will take over responsibility for the Lufthansa Group’s Customer Experience division. In addition to this role, he will also assume responsibility for a Lufthansa Group-wide taskforce with the aim of increasing customer satisfaction in the next year.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has announced an imminent change on its Management Board. After five years with the company, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Tamur Goudarzi Pour is to assume a Lufthansa Group position. In his new capacity he will take over responsibility for the Lufthansa Group’s Customer Experience division. In addition to this role, he will also assume responsibility for a Lufthansa Group-wide taskforce with the aim of increasing customer satisfaction in the next year.

“I would like to thank Tamur Goudarzi Pour for all his work and all his commitment to our company,” says SWISS CEO Dieter Vranckx. “He successfully introduced our SWISS Premium Economy Class. And he was instrumental in helping our company recover so swiftly from the corona crisis years and regain its position as one of Europe’s most profitable airlines. Under Tamur’s leadership we have prudently pursued our long-term capacity planning, and are now the stablest airline in Europe. Tamur has further advanced our fleet renewal with our new long-haul Airbus A350s; and in ‘SWISS Senses’ he has laid the foundation for our future SWISS product. We wish him all the best and every further success in his new Lufthansa Group capacity.”

Heike Birlenbach will take over as SWISS’s Chief Commercial Officer on 1 January 2024. She is presently serving as Senior Vice President Customer Experience Lufthansa Group Airlines, a position she has held since 2021. In this capacity she is responsible for customer strategy, experience design, customer service and digital interaction, along with all product development such as aircraft cabin interior design. Prior to her present duties, Birlenbach held the dual function of Chief Commercial Officer of Lufthansa Airlines and Senior Vice President Sales Lufthansa Group Network Airlines. She began her Lufthansa Group career with Lufthansa in 1990 and went on to hold various management positions, primarily in sales and product development, in London, Amsterdam, Milan, Munich and Frankfurt. She holds a Master of Management degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. 

“I am delighted that, in Heike Birlenbach, we can welcome such a proven aviation specialist to our SWISS ranks,” says Dieter Vranckx. “She brings aboard invaluable expertise in a wide range of areas, especially in the commercial and customer experience fields. She is a great fit for our team – not only professionally, but personally, too. And she will now further develop and refine our SWISS product in customer focus and customer centricity terms.”