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Star Alliance, the world’s first and largest global airline alliance, is pleased to announce that Theo Panagiotoulias has been chosen to become its next CEO. Mr Panagiotoulias has more than 25 years’ international experience in the airline and aviation industry. He joins Star Alliance from Hawaiian Airlines, where he had been Senior VP for Global Sales and Alliances since 2014. Previously, Mr Panagiotoulias was VP and GM (Asia Pacific) at travel technology provider Sabre Corporation, as well as a 15-year veteran of American Airlines, where he held several commercial, operational and management positions. His full biography is appended. "On behalf of the board of Star Alliance, I would like to congratulate Theo for being named the next CEO of Star Alliance,” said Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines and Chairman of the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board. “Theo’s international commercial and airline experience have given him a good understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing our industry today. I believe he is the right person to lead Star Alliance into the future." "Star Alliance connects the world," said Mr Panagiotoulias. "More than 200m customers fly with its 26 member airlines each year, on more than 16,000 flights each day. The Alliance has also led the revolution to promote a more seamless passenger experience. I am honoured that I’ve been chosen to lead the Star Alliance team and work directly with our 26 member carriers, as we continue to innovate as the world’s leading airline alliance." Mr Panagiotoulias will succeed Charlotta Wieland, who has been seconded from SAS – Scandinavian Airlines to serve as Star Alliance’s interim CEO since January 2023. With Mr Panagiotoulias coming on board, Ms Wieland will return to SAS, and also rejoin Star Alliance’s Alliance Management Board as the representative for SAS. Mr Panagiotoulias’ appointment is expected to take effect within the coming months, upon the completion of certain administrative processes and clearances. "On behalf of Star Alliance and its member carriers, I would like to thank Charlotta for her service to Star Alliance as interim CEO, and welcome her back to her seat on the Alliance Management Board," said Mr Kirby.<br/>

Star Alliance, one of the world’s three major airline networks, on Tuesday named Theo Panagiotoulias as its CEO. Charlotta Wieland, interim CEO since January 2023, will rejoin the alliance’s management board as a representative from Scandinavian Airlines. Panagiotoulias is expected to start the job within the coming months, upon the completion of administrative processes and clearances, the alliance said in a statement. The 25-year industry veteran has served as Hawaiian Airlines’ senior vice president for global sales and alliances since 2014.<br/>

Star Alliance has named Theo Panagiotoulias as its new CE in succession to Jeffrey Goh, who stepped down at the end of last year. Panagiotoulias joins from Hawaiian Airlines, where he was senior vice-president, global sales and alliance. Though Hawaiian is not a member of any global alliance, Panagiotoulias previously held a number of commercial, operational and management roles at Oneworld founder American Airlines, as well as serving as vice-president and general manager Asia-Pacific at travel technology firm Sabre. United Airlines CE Scott Kirby, chairman of the Star Alliance CE Board, says: ”Theo’s international commercial and airline experience have given him a good understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing our industry today. I believe he is the right person to lead Star Alliance into the future.” Panagiotoulias will succeed Charlotta Wieland, who was seconded from Star member SAS to serve as Star Alliance’s interim chief executive following Goh’s departure. The appointment is expected to take effect within the coming months, upon the completion of certain administrative processes and clearances.<br/>

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said flying over Russia constitutes a risk that many carriers including his own won’t take, while airlines from China or India enjoy a competitive advantage as they continue to traverse the airspace. “I think it creates a safety and security risk,” Kirby said in Istanbul, highlighting concerns for the safety of US citizens on such flights, or the possibility of being forced to land in Russia for a variety of reasons. US airlines and their lobby group, Airlines for America, are pushing the Biden Administration to level the playing field against Chinese rivals who can overfly Russia. As a result, flight frequencies between the world’s two biggest economies — China and the US — are stalled at below 10% of pre-Covid level. Kirby said United has curtailed flights where Russian airspace is an obstacle that’s too big to divert around. The airline has not resumed Chinese services and would not be able to fly most of those routes given the distances to avoid Russian airspace, Kirby said. “It’s a big challenge for us,” said Kirby. “Today, we are flying one flight from Newark to Delhi. The other four routes we can’t make it. They simply can’t fly far enough.” IATA DG Willie Walsh, speaking at the annual general meeting of the aviation lobby group, said closing an air space is a “political decision” and that he would like to see Russia open up again to everyone and for the Russia-Ukraine conflict to end. “We want to see the aviation system return to normal,” Walsh said. “We recognise that our industry often suffers at the hand of political decisions.”<br/>

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby Monday described the US economy as in a “business recession,” even as consumers continue to spend heavily on travel. “In the US, we’re in a business recession, and consumer is just fine — consumer is strong,” he said on the sidelines of the the annual meeting of global aviation trade group the IATA in Istanbul. That weakness, whether recession or not, has translated to a slower corporate travel recovery than many had anticipated, even as leisure travel surged back last year. Business travel demand at United has “plateaued,” Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella said Monday, at levels better than over the winter but not fully recovered. He declined to put a percentage on how much road warriors were back except to say managed corporates remain down the most, while the recovery is most advanced with small- and medium-sized businesses. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are seeing similar trends in the recovery of business travel. Managed corporate revenue is at 75-80% of 2019 levels at the former, and 85% at the latter. Delta executives in April described the recovery as “stable.” But the state of corporate travel is a significant concern for airlines. Road warriors drive an outsize portion of revenues, propping up business during periods of slower leisure travel. Changes in the seasonality of business travel hit United in the first quarter when it lost $43m and posted a negative 0.4% operating margin. Kirby in April described it as a “clear change” in travel patterns that the carrier had not fully anticipated. “We remain optimistic about the whole remainder of the year,” Nocella said when asked about the demand outlook after the summer.<br/>

Part of the 600 new aircraft Turkish Airlines will order from Boeing and Airbus will be optional and the final order will depend on a government decision, which is expected in two months, Chairman Ahmet Bolat said on Monday. Speaking at the IATA annual summit in Istanbul, Bolat also said the flag carrier will complete all the technical details of the orders, including Max and Neo model, and await a government decision to execute the order. The airline will consider regional jets, after the order for the 600 new aircraft is completed, Bolat said.<br/>

Japan's All Nippon Airways wants to grow its short and medium-haul fleet by 2030, especially expanding the Boeing 787 planes it has on order, CEO Shinichi Inoue said on the sidelines of an aviation conference in Istanbul on Monday. ANA is still not operating the number of aircraft it did pre-COVID but expects to get to that level by 2025 and exceed that number by 2030, Inoue said, adding that by then it wants to have more than 100 Boeing 787s in its fleet. "It is important for us to increase fuel efficient aircraft such as the 787 in the future," Inoue said at the annual meeting of the IATA. Air travel is slowly recovering in Japan post pandemic with inbound passenger traffic coming back stronger while outbound leisure demand is "still weak", he added. While the fear of getting infected is still putting off some passengers from travelling overseas, a weaker yen versus the dollar is making it costlier for Japanese travellers and hurting outbound demand, Inoue said.<br/>

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has warned that Japanese outbound leisure travel demand remains weak, a stark contrast to the strong recovery from inbound travellers. Speaking in Istanbul at the IATA annual general meeting, airline chief Shinichi Inoue cites two main reasons for the weaker demand: traveller mindset, as well as economics. Inoue says Japanese travellers still remain conservative, pointing out that some “are worried about going overseas and getting [infected with] Covid-19”. “Now even within Japan, some travellers are hesitant about travelling to regional areas,” he adds. Inoue adds the weaker Japanese Yen “has placed more burden on Japanese people trying to travel overseas for leisure”, while fuel surcharges have increased on the back of rising fuel prices. According to the Star Alliance carrier, inbound travel demand – excluding travellers from Mainland China, where restrictions have yet to fully lift – has recovered to about 66% of pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, outbound travel numbers in March are just 36% that of pre-pandemic levels. Inoue welcomes moves by the Japanese government and the broader travel industry to help drive outbound travel, including offering the passport renewal fee discounts, and says the airline is ready to do more to help. “We want to ease this mindset and turn winter into spring, and into summer,” says Inoue. He also notes that during the recent May ‘Golden Week’ public holidays, ANA has seen an uptick in Japanese travellers on its flights to Hawaii, a positive development in recovery. Separately, Inoue told reporters the airline is seeing network opportunity in Mainland China-North America flights via Japan, amid ongoing flight restrictions for carriers in the two countries. Noting that transit demand system-wide remains strong, he adds ANA is seeing “new demand” from Mainland Chinese travellers, a “positive impact on our overall demand”. <br/>

If complaints about aircraft spare parts shortages were a competitive sport, Air India CE Campbell Wilson’s story would be tough to beat. ”We’re noticing it most acutely because we had 13 [Boeing] 787s grounded for many years as a consequence of Air India not having the funds to pay for spare parts, [so it was] robbing aircraft to keep others flying,” Wilson said on a panel at the IATA AGM in Istanbul on 5 June. ”There were 30,000 spare parts we needed to procure to get these aircraft up and running.” He clarifies that total does not include cabin materials. Asked how exasperated he was at discovering the scale of work needed to get the twinjets back into the air, Wilson jokes: “That was probably the fourth such thing that came across my desk that morning.” Wilson is leading newly-privatised Air India into a new era under the ownership of Tata Group. Supply constraints are a hot topic at the AGM, with most airline CEs complaining of worsening aircraft maintenance and delivery delays.<br/>

Thai Airways International said it will begin talks with aircraft manufacturers to purchase 30 new widebody jets as the carrier looks to rebound from the pandemic. The carrier will formally send out a so-called request for proposal to both Airbus and Boeing next week for aircraft it expects to receive starting in 2026, CEO Chai Eamsiri said in an interview in Istanbul Sunday. The airline was also looking to add several more A321neos, the CEO said. Airlines are rapidly expanding their fleets and replacing older planes with more fuel efficient aircraft as demand for travel soars. With orderbooks filling up, airlines around the world are moving quickly to lock in delivery slots with aircraft manufacturers. The airline currently has 65 aircraft in its fleet, compared to 103 pre-pandemic. The new orders, along with leased aircraft will push its fleet back over 113 by 2027, Chai said. <br/>