On Friday, 17 March 2023, Guntram Pehlke chaired his last Supervisory Board meeting of Flughafen Dortmund GmbH. It has been seventeen years since Pehlke was elected to the Supervisory Board and became chairman in 2006.
A lot has happened since then: Dortmund Airport has been the third-largest airport in Nordrhein Westfalen since 2015, and a significant infrastructure in the state since 2019. After a record year in 2019, at the beginning of 2020 the Corona pandemic almost paralysed air traffic, not just Germany but internationally, meaning short-time working had to be introduced at Dortmund Airport in April 2020. From July 2020, things started to pick up again at Dortmund Airport, which experienced significantly higher recovery rates on average than at the other commercial airports in Germany. Dortmund Airport achieved a new record year in 2022 with high passenger volumes and a favourable preliminary annual result. It had thus already met the EU requirement of being able to show a balanced operating result by the end of 2024, two years before the deadline.
Guntram Pehlke's term of office also encompassed special events such as the 2006 World Cup, the christening of the Lufthansa "Dortmund" aircraft in May 2018, the airport becoming the home of the Borussia Dortmund football team Airbus, and responsibility for the construction of the new police building since 2021. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, he experienced, supported and helped shape events at Dortmund Airport. "We thank Mr Pehlke for his great commitment, his foresight in all decisions and our trusting cooperation. We wish him all the best for this new phase of his life, particularly good health and time for family and friends," said Airport Managing Director Ludger van Bebber.