Tui boss Fritz Joussen quits
After Joussen led the travel group through the pandemic: Chief Financial Officer Sebastian Ebel took over the helm at Europe's largest tour operator

Fritz Joussen will step down after nine years at the helm of Tui. He has guided Europe's largest tour operator through a difficult merger and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Joussen will give up his post at the end of September and will be replaced by Sebastian Ebel, who has been on the Tui board since 2014 and took over the position of chief financial officer last year, the group announced on Friday.
Mathias Kiep, head of the Investor Relations department, will assume the position of Chief Financial Officer. Both appointments will initially have a three-year term.
Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Tui, said the board "regrets Fritz Joussen's decision - and I personally regret it too. In 2013 Fritz Joussen took over a group that was threatened with splitting up, successfully restructured it and brought Tui into its current, sustainable form. "
In 2014, Joussen led the tense merger negotiations between the British tour operator Tui Travel and the German parent company Tui AG, which ultimately resulted in the world's largest tourism group.
Zetsche also praised Joussen for "guiding Tui safely and in a focused manner through the existential coronavirus crisis and laying the foundation for the group to be able to focus on profitable growth again".
During the crisis, Tui relied heavily on government aid to stay afloat as much of the fleet was decommissioned and received more than 4 billion euros from the German government.
In April, Tui repaid 700 million euros to the German state investment bank KfW. Last month, the company announced it would repay an additional €1 billion through issuance of shares and cash.
Shares in the London-listed group fell 2.6 percent in morning trading on Friday.
"Now that the existential crisis has been overcome, the time has come for a change at the top of Tui," Joussen said in a statement. "I am very pleased that with Sebastian Ebel a new CEO is taking the helm, with whom I have enjoyed a long and trusting working relationship. Tui is in very good hands with him."
Zetsche said Ebel was "ready for the post-Corona restart", adding that "strengthening the balance sheet and profitable growth are his focus". Ebel was previously responsible for Tui's hotel, resort and cruise business from 2014 to 2020.
Tui was one of several airlines to cancel a wave of flights in recent weeks due to staff shortages and major disruptions in the travel industry. Andrew Flintham, Tui's UK and Ireland managing director, wrote to customers in mid-June, apologizing for "the inconvenience caused by the cancellations".
