Lucie Guillemette plans to retire from her position as executive vice-president of Air Canada at the end of April, marking the end of a 36-year career with the carrier. Currently, Guillemette oversees commercial activity for the airline and its regional partners – including network planning, revenue performance, products, marketing, branding and sales. Air Canada disclosed the news and an associated management realignment on 12 January. Following Guillmette’s departure, company executives Mark Nasr and Mark Galardo will step into the roles of executive vice-president of marketing and digital, and executive vice-president of network planning and revenue management, respectively. The new appointments will be effective 1 May. As part of their roles, Nasr will also oversee Air Canada’s loyalty programme Aeroplan, and Galardo will manage Air Canada Vacations. Currently, Nasr is senior vice-president of products, marketing and e-commerce, while Galardo is senior vice-president of network planning and revenue management. Guillemette started with the airline in 1987 as a customer service and sales agent and rose through the ranks to upper management thanks to her “passion for customer service, her deep personal regard for her colleagues and her unwavering commitment to our company’s success”, says Michael Rousseau, Air Canada’s CE. “It is no coincidence that Lucie’s rise through the senior management ranks paralleled the transformation of Air Canada into a leading global carrier, with our revenue doubling and our profitability growing even faster as we undertook a major international network expansion,” he adds.<br/>
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Lufthansa is discussing some conditions with Italy in order to proceed with its plan to acquire a 40% stake in the country’s ITA Airways, according to people familiar with the matter. The German carrier is seeking to gain the option to back out of a full takeover should the venture fail to work out, as well as legal waivers to protect against unforeseen issues arising from the integration of the successor to bankrupt carrier Alitalia, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing confidential deliberations. Lufthansa is still deliberating the contours of its preliminary bid, which could come in the latter part of this month, said the people. Plans under discussion would see the German carrier paying as much as E350m to take an initial 40% stake in ITA Airways via a capital increase, and could eventually seek a majority stake at a later date, while also leaving room for a second investor to join the group, the people said. The Italian government is confident that a deal will ultimately be sealed, people said. Figures are subject to changes as the plan is not definitive, they said. A spokesman for Lufthansa declined to comment, as did an official for the Italian government. Lufthansa has been linked with ITA and its predecessor Alitalia for years. An acquisition of Italy’s former national flag carrier would allow the German group to expand its lucrative transatlantic business, with Italy one of the most popular entry points to Europe for travelers from the US.<br/>
Air New Zealand is gifting tens of thousands of frequent flyers a massive freebie: a significant number of Status Points towards their Airpoints membership. Status Points are the most coveted reward for frequent flyers - if they reach a certain number of points each year they can progress to Silver, Gold or Gold Elite status. Some of the benefits of Gold and Elite include free lounge access, extra baggage and free upgrades. During the pandemic, Airpoints members didn’t do as much flying. Given status is reviewed annually, many were at risk of being downgraded. To combat that, Air NZ introduced three Tier Status Extensions so people could hold onto their status throughout the pandemic – essentially pausing the annual review system. Now that most of the extensions are running out, Air NZ is offering one final post-pandemic freebie; it’s giving away up to 270 status points as a one-off gift. A spokesperson for the airline said: “With the New Zealand borders reopen, it’s great to see that flying has gradually returned, however many members may not have yet had the opportunity to travel, and as a result may downgrade their tier status over the coming year.” There are two types of “support” packages to help Silver, Gold and Gold Elite members keep their status. The first is a “top-up”. If the member doesn’t have enough points to retain their current tier level at their next annual review, they’ll get a top-up of up to 20% of the total points needed to nudge them over the mark. If that still doesn’t get you there, unfortunately, you’re headed down a level.<br/>
Air New Zealand has responded to a confusing claim in Prince Harry’s book with a shady social media post. In his controversial memoir, Spare, Harry said his wife Meghan booked and paid for a first class flight with Air New Zealand for her father, Thomas Markle, who lives in Mexico. “We told him, leave Mexico right now: A whole new level of harassment is about to rain down on you, so come to Britain. Now,” Harry wrote. “Air New Zealand, first class, booked and paid for by Meg.” However, Air New Zealand does not offer first class on any of its services, nor has it ever operated a service between Mexico and the UK. On Friday, the airline appeared to address its baffling namecheck by Prince Harry. “Introducing #SussexClass,” it wrote on its official Facebook and Twitter pages, referring to the couple’s titles, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, followed by an emoji of a crown. “Apparently coming soon.” Air New Zealand concluded the post with the “shifty eyes” emoji, which, according to Emojipedia, can be used to convey a “deceitful act”.<br/>