Air NZ named Walmart US boss Greg Foran as its new CE Friday, bringing him back home at a time the airline is trying to control costs in a lower-growth environment. New Zealand-born Foran is credited with turning around Walmart's US business as its president and CE since 2014, with the unit reporting 20 quarters of comparable sales growth under his leadership. Air NZ chairman Therese Walsh said the carrier was "thrilled to have attracted a world class Kiwi back home." Grant Williamson, investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene in Christchurch, said snagging Foran was a coup for the carrier. "In the short term, it's not going to have a major impact on earnings...but in terms of someone to have a steady hand on the wheel for Air NZ going forward, I don't think they could do much better," Williamson said. <br/>
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In the aftermath of the collapse of Adria Airways, the neighbouring Croatian govt is seeking to avert a similar risk to Croatia Airlines after setting out conditions for a capital injection. Prime minister Andrej Plenkovic has set out the conditions in relation to an initial Kn100m (US$14.8m), which it describes as the "first part" of a Kn250m advance necessary to stabilise operations at the airline. Croatia Airlines had disclosed Sept 19 that the govt had approved a decision on creating prerequisites for a Kn250m recapitalisation. Plenkovic recently cautioned that the Croatian carrier needed to be "financially ready" for the next stage and that the govt had embarked on a strategic partnership process for the carrier. <br/>
Slovenia's parliamentary finance committee has held an urgent session to discuss the adverse effects of Adria Airways' privatisation, following a highly-critical request from the left-wing Levica political party. Levica had proposed that the finance committee order the state Court of Audit to examine the contract under which Adria was sold to 4K Invest when the company was privatised in 2016. It also sought to spur the Slovenian govt to explore the conditions under which it could establish a new state-owned airline, with the support of ex-Adria employees. Convening of the committee Oct 11 followed a strongly-worded formal request from Levica member Matej Vatovec – 3 days before Adria filed for bankruptcy Sept 30 – in which he condemned the sale. <br/>
United Airlines gave up on carrying passengers on Boeing’s 737 Max this year, removing the grounded jet from its schedule until Jan 6. The carrier, which had previously pulled the aircraft until Dec 19, is cancelling more than 8,000 flights from October through early January as its 14 Max aircraft remain banned from flying. United is joining Southwest Airlines and American Airlines in taking the Max out of its flight schedule until January. Boeing has targeted this quarter for the narrow-body plane’s return, but regulators must first approve new software and other changes meant to avoid a repeat of the malfunctions linked to the accidents. At the time of the grounding, United had expected to have 30 Max jets in its fleet by year-end. <br/>