Zunker moves into Lufthansa hot seat

Joy orlek FRESH FROM a five-year stint in Korea where he saw Lufthansa’s freighter service double from six to 12 flights a week in five years, newly appointed Lufthansa regional sales director, Hermann Zunker, faces a different set of challenges in his new southern African posting. “Until April this year our results were on target,” says Zunker, “but since then we’ve recorded a 10% downturn year on year, which is significant in the airline industry. “In terms of revenue, figures were down 13% because of lower yields – the latest results for South Africa record tonnage at 96% of target and sales at 86%.” The saving grace, he says, has been southbound volumes which are performing exceptionally well. “In fact we’re above target at 116%.” The challenge as he sees it is to grow export volumes, which he concedes will be a difficult task given the strong rand, which is showing little sign of receding. His immediate priority, however, is internal housekeeping – service levels, sales and customer service. Experienced sales manager Bronwyn Cunningham joined the company on January 1, and Zunker is currently ensuring that the sales team is up to the mark and that service delivery meets the needs particularly of larger agents. For the year ahead he foresees little change in the status quo, with the strong rand, the lifting of textile quotas, the shift to seafreight and increasing competition continuing to militate against export growth. The automotive industry however remains the beacon of light in an otherwise bleak picture, says Zunker, and this will continue to be a major focus going forward.