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Lufthansa is selling seats on flights through Airbnb

Facing headwinds, Lufthansa has quietly listed seats on its planes on Airbnb. “Our cabin isn’t in the woods, but in the sky!” exclaims the ad. Lufthansa isn’t just being cute by tapping the Airbnb platform. It’s trying to fill its planes. Last week, the airline lowered its profit expectations for 2016, saying it would likely earn less than the year before. “Advance bookings, especially on long-haul routes to Europe, have declined significantly, in particular due to repeated terrorist attacks in Europe and to greater political and economic uncertainty since the original forecast was made in March,” the airline said. It’s the first time an airline has listed flights on the room-and-home-rental site, according to Airbnb, though KLM has previously offered a night on a grounded jet at Amsterdam Schiphol. <br/>

Air India gets finance ministry nod to recast bailout package

The finance ministry has approved a proposal of Air India to recast a govt-approved bailout package, said 2 officials aware of the development. The proposal is aimed at saving the airline almost INR15b every year in interest costs. The airline had in 2012 secured about INR300b in equity infusion spread over 10 years from the govt that allows it, on average, to draw INR30b every year. The govt has been infusing this amount directly into the company, in return receiving shares in the airline. It has infused INR225.65b into the airline so far. The finance ministry has now cleared a proposal that will allow Air India to take a part of the INR30b in the form of a grant, which will be used to reduce the airline’s interest outgo, said one of the officials cited above. “This will be a huge relief,” the official said. <br/>