How hard is it to jump on an international flight to the United States with no ticket and no passport? One man managed to do it last month after he passed through security at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark and flew on a Scandinavian Airlines flight to Los Angeles International Airport, carrying only Russian and Israeli identification cards in his bag, prosecutors said. The man, Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, spoke to federal law enforcement officers, with the help of a Russian-speaking federal agent, on Nov. 5, the day after his flight landed and he was detained in Los Angeles. But the interview seemed only to deepen the mystery surrounding his travel. He told the agents that he had a Ph.D. in economics and marketing and had worked as an economist in Russia a long time ago, according to an F.B.I. affidavit. He said he had not slept in three days and “did not understand what was going on,” the affidavit says. He said he “might have had” a plane ticket to the United States, but was not sure, according to the affidavit. Ochigava also said he “did not remember how he got on the plane” and “would not explain how or when he got to Copenhagen, or what he was doing there,” the affidavit says. He also “claimed he did not remember how he went through security without a ticket,” it says. Ochigava was indicted by a federal grand jury last month on a charge of being a stowaway on an aircraft, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 26. His federal public defender, Erica Choi, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, said the authorities believed that Ochigava was a Russian citizen and had not confirmed any legal status he might have in Israel. The documents in his possession indicate that he is 46 years old, Mrozek said.<br/>
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With traffic surging in Latin America, Adrian Neuhauser has turned Avianca into a low-cost operator that draws on the strengths of its network-carrier past. Adrian Neuhauser, the soon-to-be head of holding company Abra Group but speaking to Airline Business during his final weeks as Avianca chief executive, is not generally forgetful when it comes to numbers. The Chilean national is a former investment banker who holds dual degrees in business administration and economics, with a focus on finance. These days, though, he could be forgiven for losing track of an essential figure that most airline executives can rattle off in their sleep: exactly how many aircraft his firm operates. “We’ve been adding planes really, really fast,” Neuhauser says of Avianca with a laugh. “Every time we ask the question, we get different numbers.” That is because air travel in the airline’s home country of Colombia is going through a structural transformation, requiring it to move quickly to lap up the opportunity. In the fourth quarter of this year, Avianca will operate an average of 150 more flights daily than it did in the third quarter, or about 4,800 additional flights monthly. It has hired more than 1,000 people, bringing its workforce to about 13,000 employees. “It’s very, very strong growth and it’s required a tremendous effort by our operating team, by our finance team, to bring the planes in, to get the people in, to get them hired [and] explain to them what we’re doing and get them aligned. We’re a few weeks into it, but it’s been very, very, very seamless.” The payoff? Filling capacity gaps left when two smaller Colombian carriers – Viva Air and Ultra Air – folded earlier this year. ”It’s not hard to sell seats in this industry – to walk out there and say ‘Hey, I’ve got 180 tickets for $1 each’ and fill 180 seats. The challenge is filling the seats at a fair price and [doing it] profitably” With a population of more than 50m in Colombia, there is a lot of money to be made. Story has more.<br/>
Portugal's flag carrier TAP expects to deliver strong results again in 2024, though with more moderate revenue growth, which should maintain its attractiveness to potential buyers, CEO Luis Rodrigues said on Tuesday. The state-owned airline that Portugal plans to privatise soon saw a record profit of E203.5m for the first nine months of this year, reversing a year-ago loss of E90.8m. While its revenue in the period soared by almost 30% to E3.2b, surpassing pre-pandemic 2019 levels, Rodrigues said TAP "has to get used to moderate revenue growth of 3% to 4% per year" and not levels seen amid the post-pandemic recovery. "We are aiming for a 2024 budget that is a little more aggressive than that" for revenues, he said, without offering specifics. "We expect to deliver good results again (in 2024)," he told reporters, adding that "it is premature at this point" to say whether they will be a record again. Experts have said TAP's privatisation is at risk of being delayed in the wake of the recent collapse of the country's Socialist government and with a snap election set for March 10. Rodrigues said a new government will have to decide on the matter, warning that "although it is possible for the privatisation to happen in 2024, it will not be easy" due to the Portuguese election and a second election for the European Parliament. The government approved the sale of at least 51% of TAP in September and its privatisation has already attracted interest from Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways owner IAG. "Informally, all three have said that they understand the current political conditions perfectly and that they will be waiting" for a decision to resume the privatisation, Rodrigues said.<br/>
Swiss CCO Tamu Goudarzi Pour is to take responsibility for customer experience within the Lufthansa Group and lead a new initiative aimed at improving customer satisfaction next year. Lufthansa says the aim of the newly-formed taskforce is to ”sustainably improve” operational stability, punctuality, customer service, customer communication and baggage processes in 2024. He has served as Swiss CCO since 2019 and will be replaced in the role at the carrier from the start of next year by Heike Birlenbach. The latter has been head of customer experience for the group’s airlines since 2021. Lufthansa Group executive board member Christina Foerster says: “I would like to thank Heike Birlenbach for her outstanding cooperation. In challenging times, she has played a key role in shaping product development and the offering for our guests. ”I look forward to working with Tamur Goudarzi Pour in the future. With his great expertise and many years of experience in commercial areas and his profound knowledge of the needs of our customers, he will decisively advance the product, quality and premium initiatives of Lufthansa Group Airlines.”<br/>
Air New Zealand said on Wednesday it expects its first-half earnings to be at the lower end of its forecast, due to weak travel demand and increased competition from US carrier. New Zealand's flagship carrier had earlier forecast earnings before tax for the six months ended Dec. 31 between NZ$180m ($110.34m) and NZ$230m. For the same period last year, the carrier had reported a higher statutory profit before tax of NZ$299m. "Early signs of softness in domestic travel, particularly corporate and government travel, have continued, with late booking activity remaining weaker compared to the prior year," the company said. The company also expects the second half of the fiscal year to be "increasingly challenging". "The tight economic environment is having an impact on consumer's discretionary travel decisions, which appears to be borne out by Air New Zealand's tepid earnings guidance," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. Inflation and high borrowing costs have hit the airline, which is also struggling with quality inspections of RTX's Pratt & Whitney engines for a rare manufacturing flaw. Air NZ, however, said in October it sees a "nominal" financial impact from the inspections in the first half of 2024.<br/>
Kiwi travellers will soon have free, high speed internet on some domestic flights. Air New Zealand is working with satellite internet service provider Starlink to trial internet on two domestic aircraft from late 2024 – a jet and an ATR. The latter will be the first turboprop aircraft in the world to have internet access. The trial will run for four to six months. All going well, Starlink internet will then be rolled out on the airline’s remaining aircraft across its domestic fleet, from 2025. The high-speed, low latency in-flight internet will be fast enough for passengers to stream video content. Air NZ chief digital officer Nikhil Ravishankar told Stuff Travel it’s a “pretty big deal”. “When we think particularly about domestic and regional connectivity, what we’re offering is an alternative to driving long distances. And now the ability to do that and do work while you're in the air as if you were in the office, or engage in content as you would on the ground, I think that’s a pretty exciting step and change in what we have been able to offer in our domestic service.” Business travellers can keep working through the flight, and leisure travellers will be able to listen to podcasts and watch Netflix shows in real-time, rather than download them to their phone prior to taking off. However, making calls is prohibited, as per current Civil Aviation Authority regulations. “Real-time voice or video calls are prohibited in the air, and we expect that to continue,” said Ravishankar. “And I’m pretty sure from time to time we’ll have to remind a few people not to access that, and again, per regulations, if we have to block off some content, that’s something we intend to do. That regulatory obligation still stands, either on the airline or the customers travelling.”<br/>