Responsible management aimed at sustainable value creation is ensured by efficient structures and processes within the Lufthansa Group. We have always attached great importance to openness and clarity in corporate communications. Transparency is an important prerequisite for maintaining and expanding trust in the Lufthansa Group among our investors, our employees and the public.
The Lufthansa Group operates as a global aviation company with its registered office under company law in Cologne. Therefore, German stock corporation, co-determination and capital market law in particular, as well as our Articles of Association and the Corporate Governance Code implemented in a company-specific manner, form the basis for the design of the Group’s management and supervisory structure.
Compliance Management System & Code of Conduct
For the Lufthansa Group, responsible and legally compliant behavior is an indispensable prerequisite for sustainable economic success. To achieve this goal, the Lufthansa Group has implemented a central compliance management system. This includes all measures that ensure the lawful conduct of companies, management bodies and employees with regard to legal and internal company regulations and prohibitions. The Lufthansa Group Compliance Management System serves the purpose of ensuring compliance. At the same time, it is intended to protect the employees and companies of the Lufthansa Group from the consequences of violations of laws and regulations and at the same time to ensure that business is conducted with integrity and transparency. The Compliance Management System consists of the components Competition, Capital Market, Integrity (anti-corruption), External Workforce, Anti-Money Laundering as well as Embargo and Export Compliance.
In addition, the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG has adopted a Code of Conduct as the foundation of a value system for the Lufthansa Group and was updated in 2023. This Code of Conduct forms the framework within which business decisions are made and the guidelines for the actions of management bodies and employees. Further obligations for the Lufthansa Group result, among other things, from its participation in the United Nations Global Compact and its membership in the anti-corruption organization Transparency International.
In addition to advising on specific compliance-related issues, central elements of the compliance management system are the regular communication of Compliance-principles, risks and -rules through various channels as well as risk-oriented training of employees in order to promote appropriate risk awareness in the Lufthansa Group.
A whistleblower system provides the opportunity to submit suspicious activity reports with regard to white-collar crime or violations of compliance regulations of the Group either via an electronic system or via its ombudsman. The respective contact information are available on the website.
The Corporate Compliance Office, which is part of the Executive Board department Human Resources and Infrastructure, the central and local compliance committees of the Lufthansa Group, and the compliance managers at the Group companies ensure that the compliance management system is implemented throughout the Lufthansa Group. The appropriateness and effectiveness of the compliance management system is continuously monitored by regular, independent audits conducted by the internal audit department. In addition, an IT-based compliance self-assessment was carried out for the first time in 2023, as part of which the specific compliance risks in the Lufthansa Group companies were identified and evaluated.
The Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board is informed semi-annually or occasion-related about incidents and progress in the area of compliance. The Supervisory Board is informed annually about the development of the compliance management system.
Responsibility & Sustainability
The Lufthansa Group strives to operate sustainably and responsibly in all areas of the company. To ensure this, it has set itself a comprehensive sustainability agenda. Detailed information on this can be found in the Responsibility section and in the summarized non-financial statement included in the Annual Report as well as in the Factsheet Sustainability.