• Klaus Marx and Arne Kirchhoff appointed as co-chairmen
• Focus on airport charges and infrastructure costs

Frankfurt am Main, 5^th of September 2018. Klaus Marx, Regional Station Manager Germany at Air France/KLM and Arne Kirchhoff, Group Director Commercial Airport Relations at Thomas Cook Group Airlines, are the new co-chairmen of the BARIG Charges Committee. Both managers are recognized airport and procurement experts with extensive international experience. Marx has been working for Air France since 1988 and has further been holding management positions at Air France/KLM since 1997. Kirchhoff held several leading positions at Lufthansa before taking over the Commercial Airport Relations sector at Condor in 2011. Since 2013, he is overseeing this subject for the entire Thomas Cook Group Airlines, which Condor is a part of.

“I am very happy that Klaus Marx and Arne Kirchhoff are taking over the lead of BARIG’s Charges Committee,” BARIG Secretary General Michael Hoppe states. “Together with our more than 100 member airlines the committee serves the purpose of driving major topics regarding charges and infrastructure costs. In this context, our focus lies on reduction of the cost burden and facilitation of a need-oriented development of air traffic infrastructure in Germany. At present, we are experiencing major bottlenecks in services and operations which must be solved in close cooperation with airports, service providers and politics. In the interest of all member airlines, the BARIG Charges Committee will conduct these intense discussions with our system partners, especially regarding infrastructure costs and respective charges. As internationally experienced managers, Marx and Kirchhoff are the ideal drivers to focus the right topics for the BARIG members.“

The BARIG Charges Committee consists of around 20 BARIG members who represent the association’s airline community of over 100 member airlines. Since the committee features continental, intercontinental, cargo and charter airlines, the diverse demands of all members are all represented towards airports, aviation authorities and on state as well as on federal level.

BARIG (Board of Airline Representatives in Germany e. V.) represents the interests of more than 100 national and international airlines in scheduled, charter, low cost and air cargo business. Since the foundation in 1951 the airline association works for the improvement of frame conditions in the aviation industry in Germany and is the key industry contact for politics, authorities, industry and media. Worldwide the BARIG member airlines transport around 1.8 billion passengers and more than 25 million tons of air cargo to over 1,500 destinations. Every year approximately 225 million passengers are travelling to and from Germany with BARIG airlines to more than 280 international destinations. The BARIG airlines have over 105,000 employees in Germany. The overall aviation industry secures 823,000 workplaces and therefore is a major factor of the German economy. www.BARIG.aero

Arne Kirchhoff 

Klaus Marx