South African Airways’ CEO Vuyani Jarana has resigned after less than two years in the job, saying his turnaround strategy for the loss-making airline was being undermined by a lack of state funding and too much bureaucracy. The airline said late Sunday that its board had accepted Jarana’s resignation. In a resignation letter dated May 29, seen by Reuters, Jarana told the chairman of the airline’s board that there was a lack of progress on implementing the group’s strategy. “The strategy is being systematically undermined, and as the Group Chief Executive Officer, I can no longer be able to assure the board and the public that the LTTS (long-term turnaround strategy) is achievable,” Jarana said in his resignation letter. His departure highlights the challenges facing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as he seeks to speed up reforms at SAA and other state-owned entities. They are dependent on government bailouts and are regularly cited by ratings agencies as one of the main threats to the country’s economic growth. Jarana, a former executive at telecoms company Vodacom, was appointed in late 2017 to implement a strategy to return the airline to profit and wean it off government bailouts. SAA, which has not made a profit since 2011, has drawn up a five-year turnaround plan that includes slashing costs and cancelling unprofitable routes as it grapples with cost increases that far outstrip revenue growth.<br/>
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Thai Airways subsidiary Thai Smile will become Star Alliance’s second connecting partner by the end of the year, joining Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines. The airline will add another 11 unique destinations to the alliance network. Cirium’s Fleets Analyzer shows that Thai Smile flies 20 Airbus A320s to 26 destinations in Asia. Its parent Thai Airways was founding member of Star more than 20 years ago. Star Alliance CE Jeffrey Goh also said the alliance was “not closed to…having new members”, even as it shifts its strategy to bettering customer experiences. “[We] have to have [a] value proposition from the airline that wants to be part to be part of the Star Alliance,” Goh says. “In this case, we are convinced [that Thai Smile adds value], both in dollar value and customer experience,” he adds. Thai Smile’s induction comes as the alliance has been looking to tweak its connecting partner model. “We took some time since the model was rolled out, to understand more clearly what is the audience of this model, what is the content of the model, and what is the problem we are trying to solve,” Goh says.<br/>
Ethiopian Airlines will be the last airline globally to resume flights with the Boeing 737 Max once it has been certified to return to the skies. Ethiopian CE Tewolde Gebremariam said that the African carrier will only restart flights with the type "after the regulators decide and when we see airlines start flying it", adding: "We will be the last one". Three months after the 10 March accident involving flight ET302, Gebremariam says it is too early to make a judgement on the FAA investigation into the cause of the crash as it is "still a work in progress". "Lets see how they [the FAA] are going to handle it. Lets see the complete solution and also the certification, lets also see if they can convince the other regulators - then we can only make an opinion," he says. Gebremariam says that Ethiopian Airlines has been a "long-time, Boeing-only customer" in the past, and while he would like to "maintain" that relationship, the "very tragic" Max crash will have "its own impact" on it. He agreed that he was frustrated by the comments made by the FAA about the airline's pilots who were flying the aircraft, adding that the airline had made its position "clear" through press releases and public statements. Gebremariam says at present the carrier has no plans to alter its pilot training programme. He also asserts that the pilots who died in the crash will be ultimately be exonerated in the investigations.<br/>