Ladies and gentlemen, a cordial welcome to the Annual General Meeting 2024 of Deutsche Lufthansa AG from the Jahrhunderthalle, the Century Hall in Frankfurt. The Chairman of the Board and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Karl-Ludwig Kley, will now speak to you.
Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to open the seventy-first annual general meeting of Deutsche Lufthansa, and I would like to cordially welcome you. The executive board and the supervisory board are present, with the exception of Mrs. Titzrath and Mr. Gernandt, who unfortunately had inevitable other appointments. But otherwise, we are completely here, and Mr. Wilhelm is attending the annual general meeting virtually. The notary public, Carsten Angersbach, is also present here, and he will take the minutes of the annual general meeting. We will start with the information required by law, even if such information was published in the invitation and is still available on our website, so it was published there. The AGM will be fully transmitted for the benefit of the shareholders via our online service.
The first part, including the speech of Mr. Spohr and the report of the Supervisory Board will be available to the public at large. The invitation to the AGM was published on the 28th of March 2024 in the Federal Gazette, and thus we invited you to the meeting in due form and time. Also opposing motions submitted on time by shareholders against resolutions of the company and proposals for the election were published on the website. As the Chairman of the meeting, I determine that the right to information and to speak of shareholders may be executed exclusively by means of video communication, and so please register your comments via the online service. The speakers will be divided into individual blocks later on, and I will then connect them one after another.
The submission of a motion or proposal for the election must or is possible on the online service under Proposal or Motion, and it will be effective only if it has been submitted orally by you, and thus please announce a contribution. Later on, I will explain to you how you may cast your votes, and such information may also be viewed on the online service. Objections to resolutions or also complaints about the refusal to answer a question may also be submitted via the online service. More information on the rights of shareholders in the online service is available on the Lufthansa website. Now, as to the agenda. The agenda comprises eight items. Item number one is the 2023 financial year, the financial statement, and the current situation.
The annual and consolidated financial statement and the management report, and which was approved by the Supervisory Board, as recommended by the auditing committee, and thus the 2023 financial statement of Deutsche Lufthansa AG has been adopted. Our auditor, Ernst & Young, have also issued an unqualified auditing report for all matters of the audit. Item four, that is the report of the board, and we are starting with this, and I would like to ask Mr. Spohr to report about the 2023 financial year and the current situation of the group. You have the floor, please, Mr. Spohr.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I would also like to extend a warm welcome to you to the 71st ordinary annual general meeting of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Especially the last few years have shown us one thing: certainties are a thing of the past. Our world is changing faster and faster and is becoming more and more unpredictable, including our industry. Change is the new normal, and the ability to adapt to it is the new reality. Never have our challenges be as great as they are today, but I am convinced our opportunities have never been bigger either. Today, I want to show you how we use change in order to keep developing, in order to make things even better, improve things, and achieve more together. Let us briefly take a look back and then look at the here and now and into the future....
Only four years ago, the pandemic stopped almost all of aviation dead in its tracks. Like the entire industry, we also fought for survival. We lost up to EUR 1 million per hour. We had to cope with challenges that had been unimaginable. During COVID, we closed ranks. We showed what we can achieve together, and so staved off the threat of bankruptcy, and eventually led our company out of the crisis. Ladies and gentlemen, only three years later, in 2023, was an outstanding year for Lufthansa economically. An adjusted profit of EUR 2.7 billion, almost twice as much as in the previous year. All our airlines were profitable for the first time. Record results at Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, Swiss, and Lufthansa Technik. 123 million passengers, 20% more than in the previous year.
EUR 35.4 billion revenue. With more than 13%, we were able to reach our medium-term objective of a return on capital of more than 10% that we had set for the year 2024, one year early, and even clearly exceeded it. And with an operating margin of 7.6%, we have still set our sights firmly on 8%. These are fantastic figures. These are figures that made 2023 the third-best year in our corporate history. These are figures that allow us to keep investing and modernizing. And these are figures that everybody benefits from, our customers, our employees, and you, our shareholders. So let's start with good news for you, the shareholders.
At last year's AGM, we held out the prospect of paying you a dividend, and I'm very pleased to be able to keep this promise today. For the first time since 2019, we are proposing to you again the payout of a dividend in the amount of EUR 0.30 per share. Once again, I would like to thank you for your loyalty, especially during the difficult years of the pandemic. We and you cannot be satisfied with the development of our share price, but I'm firmly convinced if we keep systematically implementing our strategy, this will be reflected in our corporate rating and therefore also in our share price. Our employees also benefit from our financial success. For 2023, we're paying them profit-sharing bonuses that were agreed with the unions in the amount of EUR 500 million.
Because we know very well that our success is only possible due to the hard work of our 100,000 colleagues globally, whether in the cockpit, in the cabin, on the ground, in our hangars, in administrative or operational roles. Ladies and gentlemen, I am in daily personal contact with our company and especially the people that constitute our company, and I'm proud of witnessing what I hear from our customers every day, the commitment, professionalism, and warmth of the Lufthansa employees. But part of the truth is also that we urgently need to work on customer satisfaction in terms of stability and punctuality at our airports. We know very well that we have sometimes taxed the patience of our guests. That's why I would like to explicitly thank our customers for their loyalty.
It is our clear objective to offer our guests, again, the end-to-end premium experience that they rightly expect from us. You can be sure we are fully committed to this objective. For accelerating the necessary improvements, we have set up a task force in order to sustainably improve operational stability, punctuality, customer communication, and bag handling processes as early as this summer. At the same time, we stick to our ambitious climate protection targets, a neutral CO2 footprint by 2050, and by 2030 already, we want to cut net CO2 emissions in half compared to 2019. For us, the forward-looking formula for more climate protection is technology instead of ideology. We are modernizing our fleets. We are using more sustainable fuels, the so-called sustainable aviation fuels, and are constantly expanding our customer options for more sustainable flying.
Just to give you one example, our Green Fares that already include compensation for individual flight-related CO2 emissions were booked more than 1 million times in the first year that they were on offer. In total, about 4% of our guests already use one of the diverse options for more sustainable flying. We're very happy to see that our customers are supporting us more and more in making aviation even more environmentally friendly. Ladies and gentlemen, let us now move on and look at the here and now, and also take a look ahead. The core of our strategy has been and will remain our multi-hub, multi-airline, and multi-brand business model, and our development shows that this is and will remain the key for our success. Our airlines are among market leaders in their respective areas.
Our diversity is our strength, because our European airline system is clearly more than the sum of its parts. More than 90% of our transferring guests now have the option to reach their destination via a different hub in the network of Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines. And for more than 10% of them, even all five hubs are available for their destinations. In addition, Eurowings has enabled us, as the only European legacy airline, to profitably defend our home markets outside the hubs and to keep them linked to more than 100 destinations. And Edelweiss and Discover Airlines allow us to profitably participate in the fastest- growing segment of aviation, the short and long-haul leisure travel.
Ladies and gentlemen, we keep developing your company, the Lufthansa Group, in a structured form by making it more focused, by gearing our portfolio systematically towards the core business of our airlines and Lufthansa Technik. Making it more international by becoming even more independent of our home markets, and making it more efficient by making even more use of the synergies in the group, and by continuously adapting our structures. Talking about more focused now. In October last year, we completely divested the catering business. We expect the closing of the sale of the payment specialist, AirPlus, as early as this summer. In this way, we can not just focus more strongly on the core of our business, as mentioned, but we are gaining time and resources for our customers. Talking about becoming more international.
Even today, less than 25% of our revenue comes from Germany, and with the investment in ITA Airways, we want to take the next logical step. We expect a positive decision from Brussels in the summer, because everybody benefits from this merger. Guests flying to and from Italy by better choice and better connections. Italy, as the third biggest economy in the EU, through the guaranteed direct link to Italy's global markets. ITA and its employees, through well-deserved future viability by becoming profitable again as a member of the Lufthansa Group, and by strengthening competition in the Italian market, and the Lufthansa Group through a broader access to the Italian aviation market that is so important for us, and therefore further growth opportunities. Especially Lufthansa Technik is also becoming more international. I will come back to that in a few minutes. Talking about becoming more efficient.
Completely integrated into the feeder network for our hubs, Lufthansa City Airlines will start flight operations in a couple of weeks. First of all, flights will depart from Munich, then from Frankfurt to German and European destinations in order to safeguard our planned growth on long-haul routes with competitive feeder services. Ladies and gentlemen, people's desire to travel the world has not diminished. The persistent, strong global demand is impressive proof of that. With our airlines, we are represented in all relevant customer segments and markets, in business and leisure travel, internationally and regionally. The trend to more first and business class flights for leisure travel continues unabated, but also business travel is recovering, especially on the transatlantic routes. In Asia, normalization is somewhat slower, but especially on core routes such as Tokyo and Shanghai, but also in India and Japan, we see a clear upturn.
This strong demand, however, is still confronted with various bottlenecks. These restrict the offer of the entire industry worldwide. Late aircraft and seat deliveries, unscheduled engine overhauls, lack of staff and training for new staff are just a few examples. Especially in times of skilled labor shortages, especially in Germany, it makes me very proud to note that last year we were able to hire 13,000 new colleagues. In total, in 2023, we received more than 300,000 job applications, so more than 20 applications per vacancy. For this year, we are planning another 13,000 new hires. At the same time, staff turnover is at an almost record low, in the single-digit percentages. The latest annual group survey showed that employee satisfaction has reached the outstanding pre-crisis level again.
In the very competitive labor market, there's hardly any better evidence for our attractiveness as an employer. That is why I have to tell you very frankly that it hurts if the airline group of all that offers the best terms and conditions in Europe is the one that is confronted with the most strikes in Europe. Dr. Kley is going to comment on this in a few minutes. Despite our success when it comes to recruiting new colleagues, we also feel many of the bottlenecks hurting the industry, especially persistent delivery problems on the part of manufacturers. Still, as part of the largest fleet modernization of our history, we expect delivery of another 20 new aircraft.
In total, more than 250 aircraft of the latest generation are in our order book, for more comfort for our guests and for more environmentally friendly aviation. When it comes to comfort, there are finally good news, excellent news. Six days ago, the first A350, equipped with our new Allegris cabin, started scheduled service. Departing Munich, the destination was Vancouver. Second destination then is Toronto, followed by Chicago and Montreal later. We had a number of good ideas ourselves what the travel experience of the future would look like, but who knows this better than our guests? So we developed Allegris jointly with our customers. In all talks we had with them, it became clear that each guest has their own idea of what premium is all about. That's why we, we believe in a maximum of individuality. Would you like to do some work on board?
Do you travel with your family? Would you like more privacy? Thanks to Allegris, you can choose from a dozen of different seat types, the one that meets your expectations. In total, we will install more than 31,000 new seats into long-haul aircraft of our group. Each new intercontinental aircraft will already be equipped ex-factory with Allegris or SWISS Senses, which is the term used at Swiss. As far as our existing fleet is concerned, the A380, the 747-8 at Lufthansa, and the A350, Boeing 777 at Swiss will also receive new seats by 2028. Allegris and SWISS Senses are more than just new cabin interiors. They represent an end-to-end premium experience, with which we at Lufthansa Airlines and Swiss are setting, again, new standards in the industry, and this is only the start of a large-scale product campaign.
For 2024 alone, we are planning investing EUR 4.5 billion in new aircraft, new cabin interiors, lounges, ground handling processes, and our personal and digital services. Let me show you what is waiting for you in New York in 2 years' time. At JFK Airport in New York, a new highly modern terminal is being built, which will be the home of all Lufthansa Group airlines, by May 2026. Currently, we're planning a new lounge there that, at 3,000 square meters, will be twice as large as our current Lufthansa lounge in Terminal 1 at this airport. So you can see we have big plans because premium was, has been, and will remain our promise for our guests.
Premium, to us, is also a question of values across all corporate divisions, and premium is nothing less than our way of staying successful in the highly competitive global environment in the future from our home base in Europe. Ladies and gentlemen, I already mentioned it, the demand for air travel is undiminished. Even while, at the same time, there is a shortage of newly manufactured aircraft, which leads to the longer use of existing aircraft. This also implies more demand for maintenance, overhaul, and repair services, and this brings me to Lufthansa Technik that provides these services currently for every fifth commercial airliner in the world, and that generated another record result in 2023. With Ambition '23, the company has launched an ambitious growth program in order to keep expanding its globally leading position. The program includes major investments in expanding its core business.
Also, the expansion of sites and international footprint is on the agenda. Quite specifically, Lufthansa Technik is planning, for example, to develop an additional site in Southwest Europe, starting in 2025, for repairing engines and aircraft components. And this is supposed to enhance internal production capacities and recruiting additional skilled labor. The decision on the geographical site will be taken this summer. Also, enhancing digital business models will be an important priority. Also, in decarbonizing aviation, Lufthansa Technik can play an important role. And even when it comes to the defense industry, we will be able to make an even bigger contribution to security in Europe and the world. The last few years have taught us the painful lesson that freedom only comes with security. Lufthansa Cargo will also keep making its contribution to our success. The pandemic set off an outright boom in air freight.
In the meantime, development in the industry has normalized again. However, due to its leading position, Lufthansa Cargo is excellently positioned in order to benefit from continuing growth in e-commerce. Ladies and gentlemen, connecting people, cultures, and economic areas, this is and will remain our vision. It has never been more meaningful and more relevant than today. Every day, the crews of the more than 700 aircraft of our airlines handle 4,000 flights to more than 300 destinations in about 100 countries. We connect families, friends, business partners, contribute to social dialogue, prosperity, and international understanding. We secure chains of production and supply chains. Every day, we bring the world closer together, create opportunities for dialogue and transnational cooperation. This is of inestimable value for geopolitical stability.
If you look at what happens when such links are cut off, when international debate and diplomacy fall silent, the last few years have shown us through COVID and wars how devastating the consequences can be. No government, no company alone can meet these global challenges, and we can only create these or we can only manage these challenges if we work together and find solutions together. In a few weeks, we all have the possibility to make our voices heard. As Lufthansa Group, we are Europe's home carrier. We connect the countries of our continent and Europe to the world.
In Brussels next week, we will present four aircraft of the A320 family, Lufthansa Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, that will carry the slogan, "Yes to Europe," instead of the usual livery, thereby sending a signal for democracy and a unified continent prior to the European elections. Because this is the prerequisite for a strong home base and a strong economy. More than ever, we need policies that treat aviation as an opportunity for prosperity and growth, but also opportunities for international understanding across countries and continents, and thereby fighting extremism. At least in Germany and in the EU, we currently see too little of this appreciation of aviation, unfortunately. In no other EU country is flying as expensive as in Germany, due to the above average cost of doing business here.
Taxes and public charges have gone up by more than 80% since 2019 at German airports, and still, aviation tax was raised again on May 1 by another 20%. On top of this, there are EU regulations that weaken the position of European airlines in global competition. And this, the competition is distorted at our expense, and the positive environmental impact is squandered. So we will already have to use 2% SAF fuel from January 1, 2025, already for flights starting in Europe. As one of the biggest SAF users, we are already practically using as much SAF as we can. However, the big dilemma is the quota will come, but there's a lack of fuel. If we were to use the entire available SAF worldwide, our flights, our aircraft, would only be able to fly, a couple of weeks.
Of the 1,000 tons of kerosene that we use per hour, only 2 tons are SAF. We can only use more SAF if the available volumes go up quickly and prices go down. We're working with partners on research and industry on this, and we are very happy that in the past year, more than 1,500 corporate customers invested in SAF with us. But we cannot manage to accomplish this task alone, neither as an individual company nor as a sector. The government needs to systematically subsidize the use of sustainable fuels. Other countries, like the U.S., are showing the way. Let me show you how such regulations, this regulation mania in the E.U., hurt us European airlines, our environment, and all of us in Europe. Let's assume in 2035, you're flying from Barcelona via Frankfurt or Paris to Tokyo.
Through EU regulations, this will cost you an additional EUR 230 per person. But if you do not transfer in the EU, but in Istanbul, for example, you will only have to pay an additional EUR 35. For a family of four, this makes a difference of roughly EUR 800. If, for this reason, air passengers in the future will switch to hubs outside the EU, neither domestic aviation nor the climate will benefit. Fewer and fewer direct connections from Europe into our global markets would be the inescapable consequence. I'm a convinced European, and I'm concerned that we can neither defend ourselves nor supply ourselves with energy. We should at least preserve our capability of staying connected to the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, in two years, we will be able to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Lufthansa, and we can look back on a proud tradition that we constantly connect with innovation because we are committed to the future. And for me, it's exactly this ability to merge tradition and innovation that makes us so unique. 2023 was only the beginning. We want to continue our successful development and thereby create an added value for everybody, for a democratic world, and a strong economy by connecting people and cultures across national borders. For the environment, by doing everything in order to reduce the environmental impact of flying. For our guests, by offering them the premium quality that they rightly expect from us. For our employees, by remaining an attractive employer, offering the best terms and conditions in the industry.
For you, our shareholders, by having you participate in our corporate success.... We are convinced we've got everything that we need, the right strategy. We've got the focus on premium made in Europe, loyal guests and loyal shareholders, and more than 100,000 colleagues who work hard every day on making us better every day, thereby securing our success. Thanks for being with us on this path. Thank you for your continued support.
Thank you very much indeed, Mr. Spohr. Dear shareholders, I will now deliver my report about the activities of the Supervisory Board. In the financial year 2023, the Supervisory Board executed its duties for which it is responsible according to legislation, the bylaws, and our rules of procedure, and this will surprise hardly anybody. We supervised and provided advice to the Executive Board, and the Executive Board provided the necessary reports to the Supervisory Board. At the focus of the meetings, we had the competitive environment, the economic development of Lufthansa, the ongoing operational challenges, as well as the critical development of customer satisfaction. The Supervisory Board met for 6 meetings. The committees of the Supervisory Board had 15 meetings, and the attendance at all meetings was 98%. At the meeting on the second of March, 2023, the Supervisory Board focused on the fleet development.
We agreed to the purchase of up to 30 long-haul aircraft of the new generation from the manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, as well as the leasing of another 6 Airbus 350-900 long-haul aircraft. In view of the supply problems of the manufacturers, we should add that I hope that we will get the aircraft on the promised date and not months or even years later. In the month of April to June, the Supervisory Board agreed to the sale of the remaining business of LSG, the purchase of 41% of the shares in ITA Airways, in addition to options for purchasing the remaining shares, as well as the sale of AirPlus.
At the meeting on the 22nd of September, the Supervisory Board, jointly with the Executive Board, issued a declaration of compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code, and at this meeting furthermore, the Supervisory Board adopted an updated requirement profile and updated qualification matrix for its members. On the 5th of December, 2023, the Supervisory Board agreed to the corporate strategy and the medium-term financial budget for 2025 to 2027. Furthermore, there were reports on risk management, including the internal control systems on cybersecurity and compliance. Furthermore, the Supervisory Board checked the remuneration of the Executive Board and concluded that it was appropriate. Finally, on the 19th of December, 2023, by correspondence, we agreed to the purchase of 80 short and medium-haul aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.
The detailed report of the Supervisory Board on the 2023 financial year is available in the annual financial statement, which you will find on the company's website. But I would like to elaborate on a subject which unfortunately has kept us busy too often in the last year. We, Lufthansa, in the past few years, have often not done honor to our own ambition to be a premium supplier for our benefit of the customers. The Supervisory Board focused on this problem, and in so doing, the Supervisory Board is well aware of the fact that Lufthansa is part of an overall system which has not yet been fully restored after COVID.
Bottlenecks at our system partners, in particular, the German airports and air flight control, and the still delayed delivery of aircraft and spare parts by our suppliers, adversely affect not only our economic result, but it also have a considerable impact on the travel experience of our customers. The still existing labor shortage of various service providers are still the cause of irregularities, delays, and baggage losses. The Supervisory Board convinced itself that the Executive Board is cooperating in intensive contact with the system partners to find solutions to the problems. But we also had to take note of the fact that probably it will take a somewhat longer time until we can repeat our prior values. Nevertheless, the Supervisory Board is of the view that the problems of our partners alone are not sufficient to explain the deficits in the customer perception.
There are also some homemade reasons. These include platforms which are not always working smoothly and competently in the case of flight bookings or reimbursements and mile use. This also includes not sufficiently digital travel experience and insufficient communication on the ground and in the air. This also includes part of the onboard products. We couldn't make some investments because we had to ensure our survival as a company and because of the delay of aircraft deliveries. We have not yet reached the level which we all wish for. All this is reflected in the target achievement of the board with respect to customer satisfaction, which is relevant to the payment of part of the variable remuneration. In 2023, it was only a meager 22.5%, which is an unacceptable value.
Changing this, by the way, is the duty not only of individual members of the Executive Board or divisions to restore premium, but this is the duty of the entire Executive Board. In the last year, in 2023, we launched some major improvements, which will become effective in 2024. By this, I mean, for instance, our new cabin interior in long-haul aircraft with the designation Allegris, which will provide new seats to our customers in the first business, premium economy, economy classes, and which have been available in the regular service for six days now. I'm also thinking of the mobile improvements to the Lufthansa App. We have gone through the nadir, but nevertheless, a lot remains to be done, and this item will regularly stay on the Supervisory Board's agenda also in 2024.
Another essential factor for customer satisfaction, however, is not under the control of the executive board, or to put it differently, the board and the management of our service providers and partners could avoid it only if they were willing to commit financial suicide to the detriment of the future of the company. And of course, the executive board of Lufthansa will not be doing this. And by all this, I mean the strikes, from which our sector suffered a great deal in the last few months. And the cost of the strike, which now amount to EUR 350 million, which also affected the start into the year 2024. That is EUR 250 million alone in the first quarter of the year and approximately EUR 100 million as the follow-up effect in the second quarter of the year.
And by this, I have not even included the damage done to our reputation for the longer term. The Supervisory Board, as a group, is not involved in the salary negotiations as such. These are the duty of the Executive Board. The German system in co-determined Supervisory Boards would also make a discussion about this subject very difficult and hardly productive, because very quickly, such a discussion would lead to an exchange of ready-made statements, which would be properly recorded but wouldn't have any positive effect. As the chairman of the Supervisory Board, however, I keep studying and keeping an eye on this subject. And when I look at the extent of the strikes in the past few months in companies, the Lufthansa Group, and our system partners, such as airports or security personnel, and to put it mildly, all these strikes have been hardly helpful.
In the case of these labor disputes, every moderation has been lost. What pains me above all is that there is now a certain tone and style in the labor disputes, which are copying political disputes and also what we find in the so-called social networks. In Germany, I'm afraid, we have already got used to far too much. That is an impertinent tone, shit storms, accusations, fake news, lying, and immoderation in our judgment about others. And right now, we can also see some consequences in the political life. And I have often recommended Axel Hacke's book about propriety in difficult times and the question of human relations. And I hope that when you read this booklet, you will start to think, and I hope that many people are going to read this book.
I, at least, do not want to get used to such an attitude and style, and I wish the same for all Lufthansa employees. The success model of the German economy is based on several pillars, among others, in the traditional and often commented social partnership. But however, it must also be translated into practice, and it should not be reduced to standard expressions. And during the COVID crisis, we could again grow together in the companies. I mingled with the many who were standing in front of the Lufthansa headquarters because I'm in the fortunate position that hardly anybody will recognize me. And the employees were chanting, "Save us, Mr. Spohr," and they referred to the traditional feeling or sense of community of Lufthansa employees, and I felt how strong a social partnership can be in a crisis. And what is left of this after three years?
Maximal confrontation and escalation. There were fewer employees than during the COVID time who were assembling in front of the building, but they produced more noise because of their whistles. How can the cohesion, the social partnership, actually disappear into thin air after three years? What went wrong? If this is not going to change, then the model of the traditional social partnership will be jeopardized for our company. Without it, of course, life will go on, but we would be losing a competitive advantage, which we have had in Germany for a long time. I can only call upon all parties involved not to permit this, but to do their utmost in their organizations ...
So that we do not suffer from the pressure of, on the one hand, intercompany competition between different trade unions and interest lobbies, and also driven by the tone in the various chat groups and excesses of this world, so that we do not lose our decency and propriety. We can't say this often enough; all of us are the company—shareholders and employees, and the management, all of us together. For this reason, we should fight for solutions, but not fight against one another. The company must be able to survive in international competition, and we can accomplish this only by means of cohesion and togetherness. Ladies and gentlemen, after coming to terms successfully with the COVID crisis and the economic turnaround, as of the first of July 2024, we will start with the reorientation of the Executive Board for the next phase of our corporate development.
Four aspects are the basis of the reorientation. First, the matrix organization will be maintained for the next few years. It is the proper organizational approach. We have simplified it, we have reduced interfaces, and have reinforced decentralized responsibilities. We are expecting a higher speed with respect to solving problems and responding to changes in the market. Secondly, customer issues will be bundled in one division, but please allow me to underline once more that it is not an individual member of the Executive Board who is responsible for the customer, but the entire board. Thirdly, the crisis and the ramp-up after it required the strong concentration of the Executive Board and the operative business. In future, the Executive Board will again focus more on strategic matters.
This includes the sustainable increase in profitability of the corporate group, the further internationalization of the group, and the fleet policy against the backdrop of the ongoing supply chain problems. Fourthly, the intensification of our efforts with respect to the use of artificial intelligence and digitalization, as well as the ahead-looking dealing with sustainability and CO₂ emission reduction. Ladies and gentlemen, after the rescue of Lufthansa, the Executive Board has again ramped up the company, and we have restored the profitability, and we have returned to the successful years before COVID. Lufthansa is back, and for this reason, the Executive Board deserves our gratitude and our recognition and appreciation. On behalf of the Executive...
On the Supervisory Board, sorry, I would like to thank the members of the board, leaving the board, that is Christina Foerster, Harry Hohmeister, Detlef Kayser, and Remco Steenbergen, for their contributions, their great loyalty, and in particular, for their excellent performance. Dear Mrs. Foerster, you have worked for the Lufthansa Group for more than 20 years, and you have been a member of the Executive Board since 2020. With a great deal of commitment, you were responsible of the very important subject of brand management and sustainability, and during your term of office, we could make a great deal of progress in both areas. Thank you very much indeed for this, and my personal gratitude for your fight for diversity within the company.
This will not be over when you leave the company, and I wish you all the best for what you will be doing in the future. Dear Mr. Hohmeister, with almost 40 years in the aviation industry, you greatly deserve the honorary title, Airliner. And you're not saying it's an honorary title, but this is actually appreciated at global level. You started your career at Lufthansa in 1985, and since 2005, you were on the management board of Swiss, until you were called to the Executive Board in 2013. As a member of the board, you remained responsible for sales, networks, and our alliances, and you optimized our sales channels for the Lufthansa benefit. You expanded our hub system and network, and you represented Lufthansa successfully.
I would like to thank you very much indeed, and I wish you that you will be able to enjoy your new orientation in life. Dear Mr. Kayser, you joined Lufthansa in 2016 as the strategist-in-chief, and you were called to the Executive Board in 2019. With your analytical attitude, you reorganized some flight operations, and this will make Lufthansa more efficient. With a great deal of expertise, you supported the training and introduction of the aircraft types, Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. You would also have done this with the Triple Seven if we'd got it on time. For me, you were a much-appreciated sparring and discussion partner. Thank you very much indeed for this, and all the best to you. Dear Mr.
Steenbergen, when in early 2020, during the crisis, were appointed to the board of Lufthansa, the company went through a financial crisis, and it's also your merit that Lufthansa could early pay back the government grant because of the approved capital increase and because of the bonds which we had invested in. You made a contribution towards the profitability of the company, and you were the successful face of the company in the capital market, and also a much appreciated, appreciated interlocutor for me. I personally regret your decision to join a pharmaceutical company, but of course, I do not bear you a grudge for doing this. Actually, I should bear you a grudge, but I'm not doing it, so all the best to you. After the aviation industry, the pharmaceutical industry is the second most beautiful industry in the world.
The challenges for our industry and our company are different from those in the past few years. However, they will remain effective, but we will tackle them with a new energy and a new team, which will have even more international experience and perspectives. The interaction with our customers, investors, partners, but also the cooperation within the Lufthansa Group, require more than ever before a market team spirit. This is also what we are expecting from our new Executive Board team. Against this background, we appointed Grazia Vittadini, as of the first of July 2023, to the board for three years. She will become the Chief Technology Officer. She will responsible for engineering or technology and IT, and also sustainability.
Also, as of the first of July, 2024, Dieter Vranckx has been appointed to the board for three years, and he will be responsible for global markets and the commercial management of hubs. Furthermore, the division will be responsible for customer experience and group brand management. The financial division will receive a new manager that is Till Streichert, and as of tomorrow, and up to the new appointment, Michael Niggemann will be responsible for finances on an interim basis, in addition to his further duties. The remaining new members of the board will introduce themselves, and we will start with Mrs. Vittadini, who is present today.
Dear shareholders, my name is Grazia Vittadini, and it is a particular pleasure for me to briefly introduce myself to you this morning. Before I do that, let me, first of all, give you a few words of thanks. I would like to thank the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, who, on your behalf as owners, and also on behalf of the workforce of the company, has appointed me a member of the Executive Board. This tremendous trust and confidence that is entailed here is something that I appreciate greatly, and it's a great pleasure for me to make my contribution for future success of the company. My roots are in Italy, but I grew up in the United States, and I returned to my birth town, Milan, to study aerospace and aviation.
I have lived in Germany for many years now, and I have also acquired German citizenship now, but I also spent a lot of time in France and in the UK. It has always been my passion, from my early childhood, to deal with aviation and flying in all aspects, from model making in my early years, via DIY activities when it comes to restoring historical aircraft, and also an engineering degree that I acquired, and even a pilot license. My first professional experience, I gathered in Milan and in Munich. Afterwards, in 2002, I went to Airbus in Hamburg, where I spent a major part of my career. By different management positions in engineering and programming, I climbed up the career ladder to different technological board members and was also a member of the board of the executive committee of Airbus.
This function I held for three years. The same function, I then changed over to Rolls-Royce, where I spent the last two and a half years. To put it in short words, I can say that aviation has always been my home, and thanks to the different professional stops on my way through this industry, I have the necessary knowledge and equipment in order to be able to manage the technical functions at Lufthansa Group, with particular focus on the fleet and fleet modernization. To build upon what has been achieved before and to further promote modernization is my personal commitment, because this is not only decisive for our customers, but also important in order to attain our ambitious sustainability goals, an area for which I will also be responsible in my board function.
Also, as regards the responsibilities of IT and digital, I have gathered experience in the past years of my professional career, and I know that this is where we can find the key of our innovative capacities. As a manager, I am particularly keen on motivating our other executives and colleagues to promote them and to challenge them, because I'm aware of the fact that only when we join forces will we be able to master the challenges of the future and attain extraordinary results. As an engineer, it's very important to me that we see to it that things be done properly to the very end, and for the success of the company, and also for you as shareholders, these success, success will be attained, must be measurable. As an aviation engineer, I'm particularly gratified to see how that, that...
Or I'm very much looking forward to taking over the division of responsibility at Lufthansa Technik, which is the MRO division, because it is a crown jewel in the portfolio, and this makes Lufthansa Group stand out against many other aviation companies. Dear shareholders, as of the first of July, I have the pleasure of working as a board member of this fantastic company also for you. I would like to thank you very much for the trust that you place in me, and I'm looking forward to see you again in the rest of the course of this year as a member of the Executive Board, and see you next year then also at the AGM. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Miss Vittadini. Mr. Streichert was appointed on yesterday's Supervisory Board meeting, and he would like to briefly introduce himself in a brief video message.
Good morning, shareholders. My name is Till Streichert. I am 50 years of age, and at present, I'm Chief Financial Officer at Amadeus IT Group in Madrid, Spain. It is a great pleasure, pleasure for me, and I would like to thank the Supervisory Board for the fact that they appointed me CFO of the Lufthansa, Deutsche Lufthansa AG. For 15 years, I've worked in telecommunications, first I worked with T-Mobile in Bonn, and I spent a few years also in London at T-Mobile UK. I also learned my strategy activities at the Boston Consulting Group also, and also worked for 12 years at Vodafone and Vodacom.
Six years for Vodafone Romania, Bucharest, the last position was CFO, and then six years for Vodacom Group, also as a CFO in Johannesburg, South Africa. A company that provides more than 30 markets in Africa with mobile telephony, dedicated line or fixed line, and also other communication means. And I've been chief financial officer at the Amadeus Group. This is the leading IT vendor for IT solutions for the airlines and the car rental, and also hotelry industry. So I have also learned a lot about the necessary factors of this branch. So when I switched over during the pandemic into this travel industry, apart from all the different difficulties and problems that arose by the pandemic, it also showed how important traveling is for the connected world.
I think it's a good time today to work for the travel industry, always with the focus on customers, of course, and also on how the travel experience can be improved. So, what can I contribute? Comprehensive financial knowledge in capital-intensive industries, also in the final customer and B2B and B2C business in the company. As the Chief Financial Officer, I have worked for 10 years at the top of two major stock-listed companies, and almost 20 years of my career, I have worked in different countries throughout the world, and I always considered this as very rewarding to meet other cultures, to learn about other cultures.
So it taught me personally how absolutely important diversity and inclusion is in order to be active, to work as a team with creativity and passion, inspired by the different experiences in life, in order to produce top and peak performances. So I think this is very important for an internationally active company. As CFO of the Lufthansa Group, my focus will lie on strengthening the financial position of Lufthansa Group in the future. Three points are important. First of all, continuous value creation compared to capital cost, cost of capital. Secondly, also the attainment of robust free cash flows results, and also to maintain financial stability in order to be able to ward off possible risks, and also to make use of future investment possibilities for future growth. An intensive and transparent dialogue with you as shareholders is part and parcel of this to me.
I'm particularly glad, looking forward to this new functionality to support Carsten Spohr and the team with my colleagues at the Executive Board. Privately, as a family, I must say that after 20 years on the road outside of Germany, we are all about to return to Germany. I would like to thank the Supervisory Board for the trust they placed in me, and also, I'm very pleased to be a member of Lufthansa in future, and I wish you... Thank you very much for your attention, and I wish you a successful AGM.
Thank you. Mr. Streichert, can I be heard? Yes. Mr. Streichert said that it is a good time to work for the travel industry, and Dieter Vranckx can subscribe to that. He will be the next one to introduce himself, you will hear on site.
Dear shareholders, my name is Dieter Vranckx, and I would also like to, first of all, thank the Supervisory Board and its members that they have appointed me, member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG as of summer. I really appreciate the trust you placed in me. I'm Belgian by birth, but I also have a Swiss passport. I'm married and a father of two children. My native languages are Flemish and Dutch, but I also speak English, French, and German. It's a pleasure for me to introduce myself to you in German. For more than 25 years, I have been active in Lufthansa Group, and I have come to know this company from different perspectives. For many years, I also worked for Swiss International Air Lines, 17 years altogether, and since the beginning of 2021, I have been the CFO.
Other stops on my way were Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, Swiss Cargo, and Lufthansa Airlines. So I had to move to many to and from many places with my families. We lived in Brussels, Zurich, Basel, Hong Kong, Chicago, and also Singapore. Hence, I'm not only aware of different divisions of the group, but I also have a deep intercultural understanding. And the future board responsibility will include the major network airlines: Austrian, Brussels, Lufthansa, and Swiss, which was had already the pleasure of being managing it as a CFO, and that is Brussels and Swiss. I'm aware of the fact that these are network airlines which contribute the majority of the revenue and profit of your Lufthansa Group.
One of my core competencies will be to attain the correct level of capacity and stability so that our customer experience will be further improved and the profitability of these airlines will be further increased. It is important in this respect to strike a good balance, and I will cooperate very closely with the CEOs of our major network airlines. It must be our target to even further orient our good cooperation towards the situation where the optimum result can be attained for the whole and entire Lufthansa Group. Particularly, this cooperation of network airlines offers a lot of potential to attain even more if we join forces. We can rely on this and also make use of valuable synergies when further airlines will come and be added to our portfolio. My management style is what I would refer to as fair, direct, and straightforward.
Our business is very fast-paced, so it's very important to name challenges very clearly and to tackle them together with other executives and, staff members to have clear goals and targets and to take, pragmatic decisions and find solutions. It's a pleasure for me to, be member of the board of Lufthansa, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, as of first of July, to work for you, dear shareholders. The preparation and the new board team are being done under the, guidance of Carsten Spohr. So I thank you very much for your attention and wish you a successful Annual General Meeting 2024. Thank you. Thank you, Herr Vranckx.
Thank you. So these are the persons, dear shareholders, who will be new at our board level. And I would like to thank you for the, for your confidence that you have shown by investing into our company.
We're working on it so that by 2024 we will have a better financial year or stock exchange year than 2023, and the first step has been made with the dividend payment. I would like to thank our staff members everywhere in the world who work committedly for our Lufthansa, 24 hours around the clock, and particularly over the past year, they helped us and our customers in very difficult situations. A very big word of thanks to all of you. Ladies and gentlemen, this brings us to the elections to the Supervisory Board. At the end of this AGM, the terms of Mr. Volker Zimmermann and Michael Kerkloh will end.
Moreover, the Supervisory Board members Thomas Enders and Harald Krüger have resigned their Supervisory Board mandates with effect as of the end of this Annual General Meeting and therefore one year earlier than elected. This was done in order to ensure that the terms of office will be better distributed and as evenly as possible in future. You know that we have the terms of office of three years, so it's no good if we have a big block of members changing within one year. But this requires new elections, and we have scheduled this as agenda item 6 for today's meeting. The following recommendation from the Nomination Committee and Supervisory Board are to appoint a new Sara Hennicken, and again, Britta Seeger and Thomas Enders and Harald Krüger for another three years as members of the Supervisory Board.
Michael Kerkloh will no longer stand for the election. Mr. Kerkloh-
... You joined the Supervisory Board as a new member following the Federal Republic's investment, and you have contributed your expertise and your many years of experience in managing airport companies. The most important one, of course, is my hometown and birth town, Munich. No, my hometown is Cologne, but my birth town is Munich. And you have supported us with a lot of commitment and also supported Supervisory Board activities. You were a very active member. We would like to thank you for this from the bottom of our hearts as a board, and also I personally want to thank you. Please continue to support Lufthansa in future. Sara Hennicken, CFO of the Fresenius Management SE, is running for the first time for the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, and that is why Ms.
Hennicken will now introduce herself with the following video contribution.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, my name is Sara Hennicken, and I'm CFO at Fresenius, a global healthcare company based in Bad Homburg. I spent my career to date at Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, where I worked in the investment banking for 14 years. I moved to Fresenius in 2019. Since September 2022, I've been working there as CFO. In addition to the traditional financial functions, I was in charge of internal audit, real estate, cybersecurity, and IT. Lufthansa is a globally active group with various business segments. In its home market, in Europe, and especially in Germany, Lufthansa enjoys a higher level of identification with strong brands. At the same time, the aviation industry is a very dynamic sector, and continuous transformation and further development are essential in order to adapt to changing conditions.
The inner motivation to continuously improve our aviation business models and to develop them further have accompanied me in my professional career to date. I would be very pleased to contribute my expertise and experience to Lufthansa and to be able to accompany the company on its way into the future. This is my motivation for applying for a Supervisory Board mandate. Thank you very much for your attention.
So let's move on to the other agenda items of today's AGM. Under agenda item 2, it is proposed to distribute a cash dividend of EUR 0.30 per share. Under agenda items 3 and 4, the actions of the members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board will be approved. Under agenda item 5, you will then decide on the approval of the remuneration report. Agenda item 6, then, is the election of the Supervisory Board members. With regard to agenda item 7, this is about creating a new authorized capital. Agenda item 8 concerns the annual election of the auditor. Here, based on the recommendation of its Audit Committee, the Supervisory Board proposes to the AGM that EY, Ernst & Young, GmbH & Co. KG, be elected as auditor and group auditor. Details of all agenda items are included in the convening notice.
I come to determining the share capital represented, 234,950,450 shares are currently represented. This corresponds to 19.64% of the share capital. We also have received postal votes for 214,360,867 shares. 449 million, 39% of registered share capital is represented. You can view the list of participants in the online service. At this point, the public part of the broadcast ends. From now on, only the company's shareholders and their proxies will be able to follow the rest of the Annual General Meeting via our online service. Shareholders who have previously followed the stream without logging in should therefore now log in to the online service.
I would like to thank all other viewers for their attention and their interest in Lufthansa. Thank you very much. Goodbye.