Bhat scoops chief commercial officer role at Lufthansa Cargo

Ashwin Bhat will take over as Lufthansa Cargo’s chief commercial officer and member of the executive board for the carrier’s product and sales division.

The 51-year-old will take over the position on March 1 from of Dorothea von Boxberg, who will become chairwoman of the executive board and Lufthansa Cargo chief executive on the same date.

As Lufthansa Cargo’s chief commercial officer, Bhat will be responsible for the external organisation of sales and handling, product, revenue management, pricing, network planning and sales management worldwide.

Bhat has been vice president and head of cargo at Lufthansa Cargo sister company Swiss International Air Lines in Zurich since October 2015.

He joined the company in 1999 and has also held various positions in revenue management, transport management and global area management.

“I am very pleased that we have been able to gain Ashwin Bhat, a highly experienced senior manager within Lufthansa Group, as our chief commercial officer,” said Harry Hohmeister, member of the Lufthansa Group executive board and chairman of the supervisory board of Lufthansa Cargo. “With his extensive expertise in the airfreight business as well as his many years of sales experience, he will further strengthen Lufthansa Cargo’s leading position in international competition.”

Bhat has worked for several years as an accounting manager for an airline financial services provider in Mumbai before starting his career in Zurich.

Lufthansa Cargo announced in November that current chief executive Peter Gerber would be leaving the role in March to head up Brussels Airlines.