Delta Air Lines has named Michael Spanos as its new COO, effective next month. “The experience and perspective Mike brings to Delta will enhance and accelerate the integration across our operational, customer experience and technology teams, aligning them to deliver an unsurpassed product and service for our customers and our employees,” Delta CE Ed Bastian said on 23 May. Most recently, Spanos was president and CEO of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, “where he guided the company through the pandemic and a digital and customer-focused transformation”, Delta says. Prior to joining Six Flags, he spent more than 25 years in a variety of positions at PepsiCo, including as CEO, Asia, Middle East and North Africa, from January 2018 to November 2019. Spanos also served in the US Marine Corps early in his career, leading units during numerous deployments, including in Desert Shield/Storm and as the senior instructor at the Field Artillery Officer Basic Course. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy. He will begin work at Delta on 12 June and report directly to CE Bastian. Chief customer experience officer Allison Ausband and chief of operations John Laughter will report to Spanos.<br/>
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Residents living near Schiphol Airport will participate in the appeals court case regarding a reduction to the annual number of flights at the airport. Previously, the Cabinet had announced a plan to order a reduction of the maximum number of flight movements from 500,000 to 460,000 flights per year. Dutch airline group KLM, other airlines, and the international aviation industry association IATA won a first court case demanding an end to the Cabinet's plan. Local residents joined together to from RBV, a foundation against aircraft nuisance. They were also considered a party of concern during the earlier summary proceedings. In the first case, the court ruled that the State had not followed the correct procedures for the decision to downsize the airport, the second largest in the European Union. Infrastructure Minister Mark Harbers announced a week later that he would appeal against that decision. He said the ruling was "not in the interest of the people living near Schiphol." At that time, the RBV did not yet know whether the foundation could again be a party to the case, due to rising legal costs. The appeal involving both the State and the RBV against KLM and IATA will be heard on June 21.<br/>
China Airlines will study the “feasibility” of a second hub at the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, amid growing travel demand post-pandemic. Airline president Kao Shing-Hwang, who was speaking during a wide-ranging interview with FlightGlobal in Taipei, says the study will take place “at a future date, based on market demand”, as well as ongoing airport expansion works. China Airlines and its low-cost unit Tigerair Taiwan currently make up the lion’s share of traffic from Kaohsiung, at around 80% of all airport traffic. China Airlines has 45 flights a week, while Tigerair Taiwan operates 19 weekly flights. The idea of a southern hub is to create “a different exit and entry point into Taiwan” beyond the airline’s main Taipei hub, says Kao. “We want to [make it convenient] for our passengers living in the southern part of Taiwan… and also for travellers to Taiwan [who can] enter from Taipei and leave from Kaohsiung,” he adds. The airline also hopes to grow its share of transit traffic through Kaohsiung, though Kao acknowledges that the airport facilities “will have to be improved” in order for the airline to properly expand its operations. Work is already under way on a new airport terminal, which is capable of handling up to 16.5m passengers annually, more than double the number the airport handled in pre-pandemic 2019. The Taiwanese authorities in 2022 greenlit the expansion project, as part of plans to turn the airport into a gateway into southern Taiwan. Kao flags “a number of constraints” the airport faces, including a shortage of hangars and a lack of terminal capacity. “Software and hardware facilities must also be upgraded to support its role as a transit airport,” adds Kao. The disclosure comes days after the airline announced a series of new international flights from the southern city, including to Bangkok and Seoul’s Gimpo airport from July. <br/>