Lutz Honerla and Gerton Hulsman.
Düsseldorf Airport
Lutz Honerla will become the new Managing Director of Flughafen Düsseldorf Cargo GmbH (FDCG) on May 1, 2020. Until the end of July, he will manage the business together with Gerton Hulsman, who will retire at the end of August. Honerla has been working at Düsseldorf Airport for 30 years. The 59-year-old is currently head of marketing and strategy. He studied in Trier, is married, has two children and lives with his family in Meerbusch-Osterath.
“The course has been set for the future of FDCG. Lutz Honerla seamlessly follows on from what Gerton Hulsman has built up over the past few years at the Düsseldorf logistics location. Mr. Honerla is an experienced aviation expert and we are pleased to have won him over for this position. He brings with him first-class airline contacts from his previous activities and has an excellent network at the airport,” emphasizes Thomas Schnalke, CEO of Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH.
Honerla will contribute his wide-ranging knowledge of the industry to Flughafen Düsseldorf Cargo GmbH from May onwards. “Düsseldorf’s strength in the cargo business lies in the loading of freight in passenger aircraft. This is where Honerla will be able to make optimum use of his many years of know-how in passenger transport,” Hulsman said.
“We wish Lutz Honerla every success in his new position. At the same time we would like to express our special thanks to Mr. Hulsman for 13 years of successful work at Düsseldorf Airport. Under his leadership, for example, our cargo subsidiary became the first German company to receive CEIV pharmaceutical certification from the International Air Transport Association for its safe handling of pharmaceutical products. Now we wish him all the best for his well-deserved retirement when he leaves the company at the end of August,” Thomas Schnalke said.
Düsseldorf Airport is a first-class location for air freight. More than 100,000 German and international companies are located in the region. 18 million people live within a radius of 100 kilometers in the catchment area of Düsseldorf International Airport. The Rhine-Ruhr region is also the third strongest economic area in Europe.
Flughafen Düsseldorf Cargo GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH and employs around 200 people. The company manages the import cargo handling of almost all airlines operating at the airport in Düsseldorf and runs the export warehouse for more than 40 airlines. Last year, the company handled around 81,000 tons of air freight.
Thilo Schmid, Senior Vice President Aviation, and his team will remain the familiar contacts in the aviation sector for all airline partners at Düsseldorf Airport even after Lutz Honerla’s move.
