We Live Responsibility – What's Important to Lufthansa Team Members

Taking on Social Responsibility: the help alliance

Many Lufthansa Group employees travel around the world and repeatedly encounter grievances: poverty, children who are unable to go to school as a result, and ultimately, young adults without career opportunities. Many Lufthansa employees want to help and take responsibility. For more than 25 years, the aid organization help alliance, a nonprofit limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, has made this voluntary social commitment possible.

"As flight attendants, we travel all over the world and see where help is needed on the ground," says Lufthansa flight attendant Anna Irrgang, who is involved as a coordinator for the "Kinder Paradise" project in Prampram, Ghana. "I am particularly proud of the children in my project who manage to escape from very difficult circumstances, such as child slavery or life on the streets, with our support. They go to school and take control of their lives."

The Lufthansa Group covers all administrative costs of the help alliance, ensuring that 100 percent of every additional cent donated goes to the various aid projects. There are currently over 70 projects in more than 40 countries. Irrgang also feels fully supported by her employer. "My line manager makes it possible for me to visit my 'Kinder Paradise' project," she says. "He even travels with me to Ghana to take part in a fundraising marathon for the young people there."

It's not just the flying staff who are active at help alliance. Thomas Brockenauer from Product Management is involved in the "Farming for Health" project in Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world. The project aims to support local farmers in the sustainable production of cardamom and Szechuan pepper, two of the country's most important agricultural products.

Brockenauer's commitment began in 2019 with a visit to Nepal. "What I experienced back then made a deep impression on me," he says. "The enormous commitment of our partner organization Eco Himal, the determined work under the simplest of conditions, and the warmth of the mountain farming families." This experience inspired Brockenauer to get involved himself. Since then, he and his colleague Sebastian Christoffer have been in charge of help alliance's efforts in Nepal.

"The Lufthansa Group brings people and cultures together – and is actively committed to an open, diverse, and free world," says Brockenauer. "It wants to bring about real, sustainable change globally. And the help alliance is at the heart of this commitment."

Living Diversity: Diversifly

While the help alliance supports people around the world, Diversifly's commitment is primarily aimed at Lufthansa Group employees. As an official queer employee network, Diversifly is the point of contact for all questions related to sexual orientation and identity in the workplace. Of course, such a network always radiates outward. "We want the Lufthansa Group to become the leading employer for queer people, where everyone can be open about themselves without fear," says Fabian Kieper, one of the network's spokespersons.

Kieper, who works in Corporate Communications at the Lufthansa Group, is proud of what Diversifly has achieved within the company since it was founded in 2018. This includes the Lovehansa, an Airbus A320neo that is painted in rainbow colors. "This was an employee initiative that was realized with the approval of the Management Board," says Kieper. "Since 2022, it has been flying as an ambassador for acceptance and diversity in European traffic and is popular with crews, guests, and planespotters alike."

Another major success was achieved recently. As part of the Diversifly Pride Take-Off, Lufthansa Airlines signed the German AIDS Service Organization's #PositivArbeiten declaration, thereby committing to being a workplace free of stigmatization and discrimination. "This would not have been possible without the many years of intensive collaboration with various contacts in the company," says Kieper. "Thanks to the personal commitment of courageous employees who were open about their diagnosis and official bodies such as the Medical Service, hurdles such as the mandatory HIV tests for cockpit and cabin crew when they were first hired could be removed."

Diversifly receives funding for participating in Pride demonstrations, implementing employee campaigns, and producing of key rings and pins in rainbow colors from a wide range of departments within the Group that are happy to support the commitment to diversity. "People are often receptive to our ideas," says Kieper. "And with our patron Astrid Neben, the Chief Human Resources Officer at Lufthansa Airlines, we have a strong advocate in a central position who gives us a voice."

What does Kieper want to achieve in the future? "It's important to me that we don't take a step back despite difficult social and political trends. We must continue to take a stand for diversity and stand united behind all employees!"

Promoting Team Spirit: Lufthansa Sports Clubs

Dr. Oliver Reichel-Busch is responsible for the "my ideas" management program for the entire Lufthansa Group. He is also the president of the Lufthansa Sportverein Hamburg, one of the airline's many sports clubs, in an honorary capacity. "The Lufthansa sports clubs are Lufthansa's company sports program," says Reichel-Busch. "Our main goal is to offer employees attractive opportunities to do sports and stay healthy, exchange ideas with colleagues and friends, and, especially in the airline community, to network worldwide." The good news for non-Lufthansa employees is that everyone is welcome at the Lufthansa sports clubs. Anyone can become a club member and take part in sports activities together.

The Lufthansa Sportverein Hamburg alone has around 4,500 members and offers over 30 different sports and activities, including various ball and water sports, fishing, choir, model making, and chess. "It's exotic, but typical of company sports," says Reichel-Busch.

A special highlight was in store for 2025, when the Lufthansa sports clubs gathered over 100 athletes from across the Group to participate in the European Company Sport Games in Mallorca as "OneTeam Lufthansa Group." "Colleagues from Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Passage, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, Lufthansa Consulting, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Industry Solutions, and Lufthansa Group Business Services took part," says Reichel-Busch.