Salut!

Since the end of August, I have been doing an internship at Lufthansa’s EU office in Brussels. The time flies! Over the past three and a half months, I’ve been able to gain a great deal of aviation policy knowledge and experience by representing the interests of a large international corporation vis-à-vis the EU institutions.

Why did I apply for a traineeship at Lufthansa in Brussels? I came across the internship advertisement by chance when I was looking for an internship abroad as part of my master’s degree in international relations and development policy. When I completed an internship at the Bavarian representation in Brussels two and a half years ago, I already got an insight in representing of interests of a German state and I got to know and to love Brussels. My internship at the Lufthansa office in Brussels enables me to learn how a company can concretely represent its interests to the EU-institutions and to deepen my knowledge in the exciting field of aviation (policy).

The Lufthansa EU-office is located in the heart of the European Union – the EU quarter in Brussels. The proximity to the European institutions, country representatives and associations (for e.g. A4E) enables an important exchange on current topics with key stakeholders. The Lufthansa office represents the interests of the entire Lufthansa Group vis-à-vis the EU institutions.

The team consists of the Head of the Office, a Manager EU Affairs and an intern who changes every six months.  Almost everyone you meet is surprised that the entire Lufthansa Group, is represented by only three people in Brussels. Due to the fact that the office is relatively small, we deal with a huge variety of topics and as an intern, one is very involved in the daily work and gets assigned many different tasks. These include e.g. the research and monitoring on EU-legislative projects, the preparation of briefings and the participation in events. Every day brings fresh tasks and challenges for me as an intern. At the moment two of the main topics are the “SES” (Single European Sky) and climate topics like “SAFs” (Sustainable Aviation Fuels).

During the last months, there were a lot of conferences and events on these two topics.  One of my personal highlights was the “Joint Aviation Sustainability Event”, organized by IATA, ATAG and Finland and the “High Level Conference on the Future of Single European Sky” in September. During the last months, I have learned that events and networking are essential components in finding the right contacts and successfully representing the interests of the Lufthansa Group.

Last week, during a one-day intern exchange, I have had the chance to get to know four other LHG-trainees from Berlin and Frankfurt in Brussels! They got an insight of the work of our Lufthansa offices in Brussels and in the work of A4E (Airlines for Europe). We explored the EU quarter and ate the best fries in Brussels. The highlight of the day was the visit to the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) in the European Parliament and the exciting debate on the subject of “Hearing Future of Low Cost Travel”, in which Eurowings managing director and CFO Frank Bauer also participated. Thanks again to all LH colleagues who made this day possible! It was a great opportunity to get to know the work of other Lufthansa departments and a lot of fun to give an insight into the work of the Lufthansa office in Brussels!

As you can see, the life as a trainee in the LHG-office in Brussels is very exciting, the tasks are manifold, there are many different challenges waiting for you and it is definitely a great experience!

If my report has given you a taste of an internship at LHG, don’t hesitate to apply for the next intern position!

A bientôt! Friederike