Avianca CE Adrian Neuhauser will leave his job to become CEO of Abra Group, which owns Avianca and Brazil’s Gol, in January. He will be succeeded as the Colombian airline’s CEO by deputy CEO Frederico Pedreira, Avianca says in disclosing the changes on 28 November. The shift “will enable the alignment of Abra Group’s expansion strategy with the execution of Avianca’s business plan in Latin America to continue”, the airline says. Neuhauser will remain executive vice-chairman of Avianca’s board. “I am proud of what our team has achieved at Avianca,” Neuhauser says. “I have full confidence in Fred and his leadership in executing Avianca’s next steps, [and] I look forward to continuing to work with him and the entire team for many years.” Neuhauser arrived at the Colombian airline in 2019 as CFO and became CEO in April 2021. He led the company through restructuring following the Covid-19 crisis, an effort that shifted Avianca toward a low-cost-carrier model and that included a recent rebranding. Neuhauser will succeed Constantino de Oliveira Junior as Abra CEO. Junior has led the UK-based holding company since its establishment last year. He also founded Gol Airlines in 2001. In May 2022, Avianca and Gol agreed to unite under Abra while maintaining individual brands, strategies and teams – a move intended to create long-term stability in the post-coronavirus environment.<br/>
star
Aegean Airlines has signalled that its shareholders favour buying back warrants relating to pandemic compensation, rather than allow the Greek government to exercise its right to take a diluting share in the carrier. The Greek government provided E120m ($132m) to compensate the company for losses caused by the pandemic, one of the conditions for which obliged the carrier to grant warrants for the right to take a share in the company. Aegean received notice from the government in early November that it intended to exercise this right, which would give the government a 10.3% share in the airline – diluting the stakes of other shareholders. But the airline has the choice to exercise its own right to buy back the warrants by paying their value. This would require Aegean to pay E85.4m. Chairman Eftichios Vassilakis says the carrier has “both the liquidity and the capital” to afford the buyback. Aegean has called a shareholder meeting for 14 December during which a decision will be taken. Speaking during a company briefing on 24 November, Vassilakis stated that shareholders representing over 60% of the company favour the buyback which would “retire the right” of the Greek government to dilute the shareholder base. He describes the issue as an “overhang” for the airline which it is “eager” to conclude. Vassilakis says he will formally propose to the board and shareholders that the company proceeds with the E85.4m buyback, adding that it will end the “painful” cycle of the pandemic from which the carrier is emerging “stronger in all aspects”.<br/>
Greek carrier Aegean Airlines is expecting to reach, by the end of this year, a compensation agreement with Pratt & Whitney over disruption arising from engine inspections on its Airbus A320neo-family jets. Speaking during a 24 November briefing, Aegean chair Eftichios Vassilakis said the airline had been holding “significant discussions” with the manufacturer, but that the offers received for mitigating the cost “do not yet come to our full satisfaction”. He says there is a cost and efficiency effect from the carrier’s having to resort to using older A320s rather than the A320neos. The PW1100G engines are having to be inspected earlier than scheduled owing to powder metal contamination during component manufacture. Vassilakis says the airline has 28 A320neo-family jets and will have 31 by around July next year. But he expects an average of 10 to be grounded throughout the course of 2024. Given that the carrier has 32 older Airbus single-aisle jets, the issue effectively means one aircraft in six will be out of service. This projection for 2024 is “quite solid”, he says, but the situation for 2025 is uncertain.<br/>