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Kley
is to step down as chief executive of pharmaceutical company
Merck in April. He is a former finance chief at Lufthansa and a
current member of the supervisory board of an airline which has
been hit by a series of strikes.
"Were I to be asked, it would be my honor to say yes," Manager
Magazin cites Kley as saying in an excerpt of an article to be
published on Friday, made available to Reuters on Thursday.
In response to the report, Lufthansa said in a written statement
that Wolfgang Mayrhuber had been elected chairman until 2018.
"There are no intentions to change anything about that.
Therefore there is no need to speculate about succession."
Manager Magazin cited Lufthansa sources as saying Mayrhuber will
remain in office at least until 2017, though adding that there
had previously been signals he might step down earlier for
personal reasons.
Merck declined to comment.
Germany's largest airline is facing tough competition from Gulf
operators including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar and low-cost
carriers such as Ryanair and EasyJet. That has resulted in
drawn-out labor disputes with pilots and cabin crew over cost
cutting measures.
The magazine cited Kley as saying he was fully aware that "to
strengthen this icon of the German economy constitutes a
tremendous task".
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Additional reporting by Klaus
Lauer; Editing by Keith Weir)
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