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Star Alliance firmed up its key management appointments aimed at further enhancing its strategic focus on a seamless experience for member airline customers as they benefit from the Star Alliance network. Ambar Franco joins Star Alliance as Vice President, Customer Experience. Franco will lead the development and implementation of initiatives designed to enhance the overall customer journey across the alliance: their booking experience, the experience of customers at airports and when they connect between Star Alliance member airlines, and then to ensure their continuing loyalty post travel. She brings significant expertise from the travel industry, most recently having held senior customer experience related roles at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Luc Lachoix is Star Alliance’s Vice President, Digital & Technology. Lachoix is responsible for IT architecture, operations, and security, as well as supporting the IT needs of Star Alliance’s Customer Experience and Loyalty business areas. He has served in various roles in the airline industry, including leadership positions at key travel technology companies including Amadeus and Sabre. Renato Ramos is Vice President, Strategy. Ramos drives Star Alliance’s strategic initiatives, business planning, and cross-functional collaboration. Engaged at Star Alliance for the last seven years, he previously served as Director, Loyalty at Star Alliance. Renato is a seasoned aviation expert who has held previous roles at Avianca and LATAM Airlines.<br/>

Star Alliance, the global leader in airline alliances, has announced key management appointments to improve its customer experience, digital services, and overall strategic direction. The focus of these appointments is to deliver a seamless and enhanced experience for passengers using the extensive Star Alliance network, which serves millions of travelers worldwide. Ambar Franco has been named Vice President, Customer Experience, tasked with overseeing the entire customer journey. Her role includes streamlining the booking process, ensuring smooth experiences at airports, and improving transitions between member airlines. Additionally, Franco will focus on fostering customer loyalty post-travel. Her previous work at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has equipped her with extensive expertise in delivering exceptional customer experiences, making her a perfect fit for this role.<br/>

Air Canada and airBaltic say they have signed a codeshare agreement that will help make it easier to fly between Canada and the Baltic states. Under the deal, Air Canada’s marketing code will be placed on 10 routes operated by airBaltic, allowing travellers to fly to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania on a single ticket. The routes will include airBaltic flights to Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius, Latvia’s capital Riga and Estonia’s capital Tallinn, all from several European cities including Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Stockholm. Meanwhile, airBaltic’s marketing code will be placed on two routes operated by Air Canada from Toronto to Copenhagen and Amsterdam. The changes are effective for travel beginning Nov. 6.<br/>

Lufthansa extended the suspension of its flights to Tehran and Beirut until early next year for operational reasons, the German flagship airline said on Wednesday. For Lufthansa Airlines, this means flights to Tehran will be suspended up to and including Jan. 31, 2025, while those to Beirut are suspended up to and including Feb. 28, 2025, it said.<br/>Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings are all part of the Lufthansa Group. SWISS said in a separate statement that flights to Beirut would be cancelled up to and including Jan. 18, 2025, to provide greater planning certainty for both its passenger and crew.<br/>

As India braces for its busiest travel season, an unprecedented wave of fake bomb threats is creating turbulence for domestic airlines, threatening to affect not only holiday plans but the wider tourism economy if the crisis continues. Over less than two weeks until Wednesday, Indian airlines have received bomb threats affecting more than 120 flights, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. The threats were sent via social media, emails and even scrawled on washrooms, forcing airlines to divert flights or make emergency landings for safety checks. “From speaking to industry stakeholders in India, my understanding is that the situation of hoax security calls to airlines is unprecedented. The inconveniences to passengers and cost to airline operations are significant,” said Mayur Patel, head of Asia at travel data provider OAG. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on Monday that once a bomb threat was received, security agencies were bound under international guidelines to follow detailed safety protocols “because for us safety and security is the foremost aspect” of air travel. To combat the menace, the government plans to introduce a law that would place hoax callers on a no-fly list under the Aircraft Security Rules. Authorities were also working on legal amendments to recognise such malicious calls as offences, with suspects facing possible investigation and prosecution without a warrant, Naidu said. Indian laws currently only recognise such offences while an aircraft is airborne and have few provisions to deal with offenders when planes are parked at the airport, according to the minister. One recent incident involved an Air India flight from Mumbai to New York on October 14, which had to be diverted to Delhi midway. The plane was forced to dump 100 tonnes of jet fuel to make a safe landing. Taking into account the additional cost of hotel accommodation for passengers and crew, the airline’s tab for the single flight was 30m Indian rupees (US$356,835), according to The Times of India.<br/>

Star Alliance members Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Air India will be significantly expanding their codeshare agreement, adding 11 Indian cities and another 40 international destinations to their network. This marks the first extensive expansion of codeshare arrangements between the airlines since 2010, offering passengers enhanced travel options between Singapore and India, as well as beyond. Subject to regulatory approvals, the codeshare flights will be progressively made available for sale through the airlines’ respective booking channels from 27 October 2024. Both airlines plan to progressively include other destinations in their network to the codeshare arrangements. From late October, Air India and SIA will codeshare on each other’s flights between Singapore and Bengaluru and Chennai, increasing their total weekly scheduled codeshare services between the countries to 56 from 14.<br/>

The consumer watchdog is calling for an inquiry into how Air New Zealand prices its flights. A recent Consumer NZ investigation into the prices of Trans-Tasman flights across an 18-week period found, on average, Air New Zealand increased its fares by 43% in the school holidays (compared to school term time) while Qantas increased its fares by only 24% across the same time period. Consumer NZ CEO Jon Duffy told Stuff Travel its concern is not that either airline is increasing prices during popular times and on popular routes - rather that Air New Zealand might be taking advantage of demand much more than Qantas is. “Aotearoa has one of the least competitive aviation sectors in the world (with Air New Zealand owning a virtual monopoly on some routes and therefore able to control the supply) and we think consumers deserve more transparency regarding how Air New Zealand is setting its prices. We don't actually know if our national carrier is taking advantage of this demand for sure. That's why we are calling for a market study, which will look at competition dynamics - such as the relationship between the number of planes Air NZ puts in the sky, and the prices that they're charging - to determine whether competition in the aviation sector is working as well for New Zealanders as it could be.”<br/>

Australian Federal Police (AFP) have released footage of a passenger being removed from a diverted Air New Zealand flight. The man is seen being led away in handcuffs at Melbourne Airport and is being charged with allegedly assaulting a crew member. The 23-year-old passenger, who is a New Zealand citizen, was allegedly intoxicated. The flight attendant suffered “a slight injury”, according to the AFP. Flight NZ176 had left Perth shortly before 8pm (local time) on Tuesday, and was due in Auckland at 7.15am on Wednesday before being diverted to Melbourne. AFP Detective Superintendent Stephen Cook said the incident caused the flight to be delayed. “Any violence or anti-social behaviour in a confined space in the air would be distressing for other passengers and crew. At the very least, in this alleged incident it disrupted everyone’s travel plans,” Cook said. “Anti-social behaviour during a flight can pose a direct threat to the safety of the aircraft that is taken seriously by airlines and the AFP.” The man is expected to appear in Broadmeadows Magistrates Court on Thursday. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.<br/>