South Africa’s cabinet will make a final decision on how to recapitalise state airline South African Airwaysby end September, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said Friday. “Before the end of September, we should have gone to cabinet, proposed the options and cabinet should have taken the decision,” Gigaba said. “What is a fact is that there is a 10b rand capitalisation that is required for South African Airways but the source or model of that recapitalisation is not yet finalised.” Gigaba said the other options include a share equity, public-private partnerships and “a full share swap in regard to the Telkom shares.” South Africa is considering selling its stake in landline provider Telkom to fund SAA’s 10b rand bailout. The government holds a stake of about 39% in Telkom. Credit ratings agencies say SAA should be reformed and cite the cost of propping it up as a threat to South Africa's credit rating. S&P Global Ratings and Fitch have downgraded South Africa's credit to "junk" status.<br/>
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United Continental suspended its entire regional operation and all mainland flights out of Houston to non-hub airports around the country as Hurricane Harvey lashed southeast Texas, the airline said Saturday. More than 1,000 flights had been cancelled and another 1,259 delayed nationwide as of 3:04 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. United’s cancellations, including the entire United Express operation, came after the airline on Friday suspended operations at Corpus Christi, McAllen-Miller and Valley International airports in Texas. United is more affected than other carriers because of reliance on its Houston hub. “We plan to continue operating flights from Houston to our hubs and most international destinations,” said a spokesman, adding that the airline extended its travel waiver to provide travellers with more flexibility. Southwest is operating at about half of its usual schedule at Houston’s Hobby airport, and those in Austin and San Antonio, this weekend. <br/>
All Nippon Airways (ANA) will open a new ANA Suite Lounge and a renovated ANA Lounge at Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport Sept. 13. Both lounges, for passengers on domestic flights, are designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. “The overall design concept of the new lounges is ‘Ichigo ichie’ [treasure every encounter as if it were once in a lifetime]. This concept is based on the Japanese saying, with a new interpretation,” he said. “I hope to create a space embodying ANA’s trademark hospitality that blends Japan’s ‘history of beauty’ with refined designs that brings a ‘sparkling moment in time’ for each of the customers. At the lounge reception, I used washi (Japanese traditional paper) to build the ceiling to represent ‘clouds above the sky.’ Also the chandelier lights using Bohemian glass and long tables with green mosses can be found in the lounges to let customers feel the beauty of the nature of Hokkaido during their stay.” ANA operates other domestic ANA Suite Lounges at Tokyo Haneda, Osaka Itami and Okinawa Naha airports.<br/>