Air Serbia inks lounge deal with Qatar Airways, Flydubai

GLOBAL AVIATION NEWS

Italy to sell ITA in June

Italy's government aims to sell state-owned ITA Airways, the successor to Alitalia, by the end of June after setting a deadline for binding offers of May 23, Economy Minister Daniele Franco said. Three prospective bidders for ITA Airways have had access to its finance data room, Franco said addressing parliament over the issue. They are shipping group MSC alongside Germany's Lufthansa, the U.S. Certares fund in cooperation with Delta and Air France, and investor Indigo Partners, Franco added. Under a government decree, Rome plans to privatise ITA through a direct sale while retaining a minority, non-controlling stake in a first stage. MSC in January requested an exclusivity period of 90 days to iron out details of an acquisition, but Rome opted for a market-based procedure aimed at keeping the door open to other potential suitors. "The outcome of the negotiations is not a foregone conclusion. We will examine the three offers in a transparent way, there is no decision on our part at present", Franco said adding a key factor is that the buyer is at least 51% owned by a European player. Lufthansa is interested in taking a minority stake in ITA, leaving the majority to MSC, the airline said in remarks during its shareholders meeting. It added, however, that the review of ITA's financial data would be important to confirm this preliminary intention. If the deal does go through, Lufthansa aims to build a close commercial cooperation with ITA and expects synergies to make the investment profitable in the long term, the carrier said. Under an agreement with the European Union, Rome can inject up to 1.35 billion euros into the ITA by 2023. A privatisation deal would potentially reduce the financial support granted by the state, limiting the costs for Italian taxpayers.

Air Serbia inks lounge deal with Qatar Airways, Flydubai

NEWS FLASH

Air Serbia has inked an agreement with Qatar Airways and Flydubai which enables the latter’s business class passengers to use the Serbian carrier’s Premium Lounge at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The two have so far used Belgrade Airport’s Business Club lounge, which is currently closed. In addition, the Air Serbia Premium lounge can also be used by the national carrier’s corporate card members, business class passengers and those who purchased an Economy Comfort ticket. Air Serbia has also entered into a partnership with Collinson, the company behind Priority Pass, LoungeKey and Lounge Pass, which will enable those using these programs to access the Air Serbia Premium Lounge as of April 12. “We believe that a greater number of passengers and an expanded offer will contribute to Air Serbia’s improved positioning on the global map of premium lounges”, the airline’s General Manager for Commercial and Strategy, Jiri Marek, said.

Air Serbia’s Premium Lounge represents the first airline-specific lounge in Serbia. Since its opening in September 2015, it has been visited by 125.500 passengers. As of November 2016, the lounge has been open for travellers flying out on select airlines from Belgrade, and as of May 2017, entry to the Premium Lounge is offered as a part of Air Serbia’s ancillary services. The lounge has a capacity to seat eighty people, and offers a-la-carte and buffet dining, bar, showers, bathrooms, prayer room, USB ports and a meeting area.

Comments

Anonymous13:55
Furter flyaway from Etihad.
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Vlad19:16
Very, very good news for Priority Pass customers.
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