Lufthansa CEO Named Featured Speaker at GBTA Conference 2015

London – July 1, 2015 The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) – the voice of the global business travel industry – and German business travel buyer association VDR – today announced that Mr. Carsten Spohr, Chairman and CEO of Lufthansa Group, will be a featured speaker at their joint conference, 9-11 November, at the Congress Center, Messe Frankfurt.

Mr. Spohr has served as Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG since May 1, 2014. In this role, he is responsible for the Lufthansa Group, which comprises the Passenger Airline Group, Logistics, MRO, Catering and IT Services segments and has around 117,000 employees worldwide.

As a Centre Stage Speaker he will share his thoughts on the future of airlines and how they will relate to business travel, specifically focusing on Lufthansa’s strategy and plans for development.

“We are delighted that Mr Spohr will be joining us in Frankfurt,” said Catherine McGavock, GBTA Regional Vice President EMEA. “Our industry is experiencing another wave of disruption, and in the airline world one of the current drivers of this change is Lufthansa. Attendees will hear Mr Spohr’s views on the outlook for his airline and its impact on business travel.”

“As leader of our national carrier and the largest airline group in Europe we are pleased to welcome Mr Spohr to our business travel conference, which is taking place in Frankfurt, the financial Center in Germany,” said Dirk Gerdom, VDR President.

This marks the second year that GBTA’s annual conference in Europe has joined forces with German partner association VDR to create Europe’s foremost business travel conference. This year’s event is expected to attract more than 850 delegates from more than 20 countries.

Registration is now open. Information on the conference programme is available on www.gbta.org/europeconference.

Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V.

(VDR)
The VDR represents the interests of German industry and deals with the general and competitive conditions surrounding business trips and mobility. It campaigns for efficient, economical, safe, unhindered, worldwide travel possibilities for companies. The VDR with its over 530 member companies represents a total annual turnover in the business travel sector of more than EUR 10 billion.

CONTACT:
Colleen Lerro Gallagher, +1 703-236-1133, cgallagher@gbta.org
Catherine McGavock, +44 (0) 7980 588181, cmcgavock@gbta.org
Hans-Ingo Biehl, +49 69 71 37 498-11, biehl@vdr-service.de

About the Global Business Travel Association
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA’s 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. To learn how business travel drives lasting business growth, gbta.org