SATS-owned Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has announced that Thomas Schürmann will become managing director Germany of its subsidiary Frankfurt Cargo Services (FCS) from next month.
Thomas will join FCS in April, having previously served as head of cargo operations and delivery at Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi.
Schürmann has more than 20 years’ experience in international management and cargo operations. Most recently, he was responsible for Etihad’s global cargo operations at over 80 international passenger and cargo stations.
Drawing on his airline and ground handling experience at Etihad Cargo and Flughafen Düsseldorf Cargo, he will aim to strengthen operations at FCS.
Current FCS managing director, Claus Wagner, remains with the group. He will take over the management of the Frankfurt operation of parent company WFS to drive forward the development of freight forwarding and e-commerce handling services.
Wagner has been managing director of FCS since 2019 and has successfully guided the company and expanded its position as the largest airline-independent freight handler at Frankfurt Airport.
He has more than 30 years of experience in logistics and prior to joining FCS he served in senior executive positions, including chief financial officer at Europcar and chief operating officer at DPD.
He will now leverage this experience to expand WFS’s freight forwarding and e-commerce activities in Frankfurt.
In January, WFS commenced operations in two warehouses and two office buildings on a 24,000 sq m site within the airport’s Cargo City South with the capacity to handle some 100,000 tonnes of import and export freight annually for e-commerce and freight forwarding clients.
“With the appointment of Thomas Schürmann, we have significantly strengthened our already outstanding team in Frankfurt and are strongly positioned to achieve our ambitious goals at this important cargo hub,” said John Batten, chief executive of WFS Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia (EMEAA).
“I am delighted that Claus Wagner will remain with our company in his new position as Managing Director of WFS Frankfurt. I have known and valued him for many years and am convinced that he is the right person to decisively advance our new freight forwarding and e-commerce business in Frankfurt.
“I wish them both a good start in their new positions and look forward to the coming years with the utmost confidence.”
