South African Airways has agreed to hire a restructuring expert to help turn around the airline and meet conditions laid down by lenders to roll over debt, according to 2 people familiar with the matter. Incoming CE Vuyani Jarana met with British industry veteran Peter Davies last month and he agreed to help try to return SAA to profit, said the people. Davies is a former CE of European airlines including Air Malta and Brussels Airlines and currently runs Airline Management Group. “We are finalising steps that will lead to the appointment of a chief restructuring officer,” a SAA spokesman confirmed. The appointment of a strong management team is one of several conditions lenders have laid down to extend talks on loan repayments beyond Finance minister Malusi Gigaba’s mid-term budget update in October. <br/>
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SAS will unveil a new lounge at O'Hare International Wednesday. The changes in the lounge experience at O'Hare come as the carrier also is upgrading its on-board premium cabin experience to give high-margin passengers what the carrier says will be more of an "immersive understanding of Scandinavian cuisine and culture." The completely renovated and expanded SAS lounge at O'Hare now has a 2,000-square-foot footprint with seating for 117 passengers. The revamped lounge includes simple-yet-sleek new Scandinavian furniture, more work stations, and a large buffet with a range of food and drink that reflects aspects of Scandinavian cooking. SAS's new lounge will be available not only to the carrier's most elite frequent travellers and business class ticket holders, but also passengers booked in premium economy. <br/>
Air India has renewed its insurance cover for 2017-18 for US$14m, which is a 20% discount over 2016-17. The new policy cover came into force from Oct 1 and covers 142 aircraft of the carrier which includes 109 planes of Air India, 23 of Air India Express and 10 small planes of its regional arm Alliance Air. The sum assured, which covers passengers and hull liability, stands at $10.4b. Last year, the carrier had shelled out a total premium at $18.38m, which was 30% lower than the previous year's premium. Over the last 2 years, the disinvestment-bound airline has availed discounts of over 40% in its insurance premium. The largest non-life insurer New India is the lead insurer along with the other 3 state-owned general insurers, while AIG acted as the lead reinsurer along with 30-40 reinsurers across the world. <br/>