Shaping the future with diversity

The Lufthansa Group employs people of all abilities, people of different gender, national and ethnic origins, religions, age groups, and sexual identities and orientations. This diversity within the company also means a vast array of skills, perspectives, and experiences. For the Lufthansa Group as an employer and service provider, diversity and equal opportunities are important and necessary. The company becomes more flexible and creative – essential qualities for remaining innovative and adaptable. This also leads to a more varied understanding of customer needs and contributes to a customer-oriented development of products and services. 

Promoting this diversity further is a goal of the Lufthansa Group's personnel strategy. All employees should be able to contribute their own talents in a prejudice-free work environment, free from disadvantages, where personal boundaries are respected. Employment and career opportunities within the Lufthansa Group are open to everyone.

To promote women, the Lufthansa Group has implemented numerous measures in its staffing processes. For example, every shortlist for management positions must include at least one woman and one man. Final appointments follow a clear best-selection process. Additionally, there is a wide portfolio of individual development measures for female talents, such as special programs for emerging leaders of all genders and networks for mutual exchange of experiences. In leadership training at the Lufthansa Group, topics such as unconscious thought patterns and biases (e.g., in the recruiting process) and inclusive leadership techniques are regularly addressed.

The international aviation industry has set itself the goal within the framework of the IATA of achieving a 25 percent share of women in management positions by 2025 (“25by25”). The Lufthansa Group achieved this goal by the first quarter of 2025. Overall, the proportion of female employees in the Lufthansa Group is around 50 percent.

For the Lufthansa Group, the employment and integration of people with disabilities is not only a legal obligation but also a fulfillment of social responsibility. Providing targeted support for the professional development of people with disabilities is a matter of course for the management boards, human resources management and representatives of employees with disabilities, who discuss further inclusion measures in regular meetings. In 2024, the Lufthansa Group implemented a new corporate inclusion agreement, replacing the previous integration agreement. The new agreement once again strengthens the rights of people with disabilities and raises awareness for their concerns. Additionally, an action plan was adopted, including a wide range of information and communication offerings for employees and targeted training for leaders.

By the end of 2024, the employment rate of people with disabilities in the Lufthansa Group in Germany was four percent. While some companies exceed the legally stipulated minimum quota of five percent, the disability employment rate in other companies is lower – in particular due to legal regulations. The Lufthansa Group is committed to its social responsibility, but at the same time, many of its companies are subject to special requirements and restrictions on flight operations. The Lufthansa Group also uses other ways of supporting people with disabilities, such as awarding contracts to workshops for people with disabilities or cooperating with the National Paralympic Committee Germany (Deutscher Behindertensportverband, DBS).

For a life-phase-oriented personnel policy, the Lufthansa Group develops and advances offers and measures that help employees actively shape their personal phases and better reconcile them with professional life. This includes entering the workforce, family phases, or caring for relatives. This ranges from shared leadership, to flexible working time models, such as different part-time arrangements, opportunities for remote work, to various offers, such as in the areas of ad-hoc childcare, parent-child offices, regular childcare, holiday care, and care for relatives.

Other employee and executive networks and initiatives support the company's diversity and equal opportunity goals. The employee initiative “#CourageUp” is committed to fighting racism and discrimination. Other examples include the Lufthansa Group's “Female Leadership” network, Lufthansa Technik's “Female Network” or the “Fathers Network”. In order to make the offers known beyond the boundaries of the respective divisions and Group companies, the overarching "Power Up" network acts as a multiplier, providing a common technical platform for the mutual exchange of know-how and support. The network promotes a cultural change from bottom to top through empowerment, visibility, and exchange with support from existing role models in leadership positions. Many executives also advocate for diversity, for example by supporting networks, showing a visible attitude and promoting more diversity in their teams.

A clear stance against discrimination

The Lufthansa Group promotes diversity and respect within the company

Any form of discrimination, such as based on gender, age, skin color, origin, nationality, religious affiliation, sexual orientation or identity, disability, political views, or union activity, is not tolerated by the Lufthansa Group. The airline group relies on continuous communication and accompanying measures packages for awareness and prevention and has established numerous internal reporting channels. Most recently, the Lufthansa Group launched an internal awareness campaign on the United Nations' International Zero Discrimination Day on March 1, 2024: “#Respect - For Diversity. Against Discrimination.” Affected and sensitized colleagues participated in the conception and accompanied the implementation. The #Respect campaign builds on the internal awareness campaign “#RespectLimits” of the Lufthansa Group from 2018 to 2020. The latter was recognized by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency as a best-practice example in dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. The Lufthansa Group underscores its stance against any form of discrimination and harassment at the end of 2024 by joining the alliance "Gemeinsam gegen Sexismus" (together against sexism).

Together with more than 500 German associations and companies, the Lufthansa Group set a sign for diversity and freedom and against extremism in spring 2024 with the campaign "#Zusammenland – Vielfalt macht uns stark." And in autumn 2023, the Lufthansa Group, together with 100 companies in Germany, spoke out against anti-Semitism in a joint advertising campaign "Nie wieder ist jetzt" (never again is now). As the world's first airline group, the Lufthansa Group adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism in September 2022.

Around the men's 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a Lufthansa aircraft visibly carried its stance for diversity and tolerance worldwide — with the slogan "Diversity Wins" and an illustration showing the men's national football team with fans in all their diversity. After the first flight to Muscat with the German national football team on board, the aircraft with this livery traveled to numerous destinations for many months.