Christopher Zimmer
Christopher Zimmer, 36, started his career at Hamburg airport's check-in counter and is now the boss of Lufthansa Poland. He worked at Hamburg airport from 1985 to the early 1990s, holding various positions such as aircraft loading and ticketing.
Many Lufthansa staffers were due to retire in the mid-1990s, so to prevent a staff shortage the company hired new managers from universities and its ground operations, Zimmer said. After taking some basic examinations, in 1991 he was sent to Vienna for two years to study airport management. By early 1994, he was ready to run Lufthansa's Bulgarian operation. "That was the best education I could have had," Zimmer said. "I think I'm a practical person and I learn by doing."
In Poland, Zimmer said his work has been hampered by the country's restrictions on foreign airlines. "So far we can offer 55% of all seats for Polish-German traffic, a capacity we've already reached, which means that if we want to expand to other cities, we can't do it at the moment," he said. Zimmer is hoping for a relatively quick transformation of the market. "I hope Poland will soon sign the new European Union agreement allowing us to fly to other cities (in Poland) and to get rid of the restrictive and limiting air-traffic agreement between Poland and Germany that was signed in the 1970s," he said.
Past notes:
1985: Began his first job at Lufthansa
1991-1994: Studied in Vienna
1994-2000: Promoted to manager of Lufthansa in Bulgaria
July 2000: Arrived in Poland as director of Lufthansa Poland
Last word:
"If you're flexible and open to taking on difficult jobs, then you always have a chance."
