Star Alliance is pleased to announce that Charlotta Wieland has been appointed as its Interim CEO with effect from January 1, 2023. She will take over from outgoing CEO Jeffrey Goh, who will be leaving the Alliance at the end of 2022 after six years at its helm. Ms Wieland will join Star Alliance on interim assignment from founding member carrier SAS – Scandinavian Airlines, where she is currently VP for Alliances & Industry Affairs. She has served on Star Alliance’s Alliance Management Board for the past six years, and is also a member of the board’s Strategy Committee, which plays a key role in charting the direction of the Alliance. Ms Wieland has more than 25 years’ experience in the aviation industry, and a strong track record in airline alliances, pricing strategy, business development and distribution. Prior to SAS, she also worked at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.<br/>
star
The newly elected leader of United Airlines pilots’ union has resigned after a series of his recent online posts sparked an outcry from some other aviators and union leaders. Neil Swindells, a Chicago-based Boeing 787 captain, was narrowly elected earlier this week to lead the union of more than 14,000 pilots. Some of the messages had surfaced before the union leadership’s vote, which he narrowly won. The election was held after the previous chairman resigned due to a family issue. Swindells, who could not immediately be reached for comment, announced his resignation in a note to pilots late Wednesday. United Airlines didn’t immediately comment. Swindells, as head of the pilot union, would have had a seat on United’s board of directors. The airline and the union are in the middle of contract negotiations and previous efforts to get to a deal have failed. On Sept. 16, two days after United announced a partnership with one-time rival Emirates at an event at Washington Dulles International Airport, Swindells wrote on a private message board for pilots: “And I’m sure EMIRATES had NOTHING TO DO with the EMIRATES MALE CAPTAIN being flanked” by a United “FEMALE FIRST OFFICER.” He wrote that the event showed Emirates’ “DOMINANCE OF THE CODESHARE, while giving UNITED their desired DEI money shot!!!” DEI is a commonly used shorthand for diversity, equity and inclusion. Code-sharing in the aviation industry is when airlines partner to market each other’s flights.<br/>
The red ink continued to flow at bankrupt SAS in November even as the airline plans for a strong summer travel season next year. The Stockholm-based carrier posted a $48m loss on $270m in revenue for November, according to a monthly filing with a US bankruptcy court. That was narrower than SAS’s nearly $90m loss in October, but comparable to its nearly $47m loss in September. These loss numbers include one-time restructuring expanses. The continued losses were expected, SAS CEO Anko Van der Werff said at the end of November. Speaking during a quarterly earnings call, he said the airline does not “expect to reach profitability within the next year despite our comprehensive cost-out program.” The “next year” is SAS’s fiscal year that ends in October 2023. Despite that, SAS had narrowed the gap between costs and revenues during the three-months ending in October, Van der Werff said. Travel demand, Van der Werff said, was at “decent levels” as the airline moved into the weak winter travel season. SAS filed for Chapter 11 in the US in July after it hit a roadblock implementing its 7.5b Swedish kroner ($717m) cost cutting program, which is known as SAS Forward. Aircraft lessors were named as the key sticking point by SAS CFO Erno Hildén in its bankruptcy filing. It had $1.53b in outstanding lease liabilities when it filed, plus $1.35b in long-term debt.. SAS has since reached agreements with lessors covering 80-90% of its fleet, Hildén said in November. Other needed savings include new labor agreements and other operational improvements. The airline had shrunk its operating fleet to 108 aircraft in December from 42 aircraft in February 2020, data from Cirium Fleet Analyzer show. SAS has shed almost all of its Boeing 737s, as well as some of its Bombardier CRJ fleet.<br/>
Turkish Airlines plans to launch flights to Poland's industrial city of Katowice beginning on March 3, 2023, THY said in a statement on Thursday. According to the statement, Türkiye's flag carrier will increase the number of destinations it flies to 343, adding the southern Polish city to its flight map. The company will operate its flights to Katowice on the winter schedule, five days a week – on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Passengers can travel from Istanbul to Katowice with special opening prices starting from $149 round trip, including all taxes, the company said.<br/>