How Adrian Neuhauser transformed Avianca into a low-cost competitor
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/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-12-13/star/how-adrian-neuhauser-transformed-avianca-into-a-low-cost-competitor
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How Adrian Neuhauser transformed Avianca into a low-cost competitor
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/>
