Lufthansa is seeking to take on staff with new skills to make itself fit for the digital age and is planning to make compensation offers to older staff at its namesake brand to clear space for the new arrivals. "This is not a cost or job cuts programme. There will be no redundancies," a spokesman for the airline said Thursday. The offer will be made to 3,200 administrative staff at the Lufthansa brand. "The resulting staff turnover will allow Lufthansa to bring new skills into the group without getting rid of jobs," the statement said That will enable the group to deal with the challenges of global trends such as digitalisation and automation, it said.<br/>
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SIA is focusing on the Japanese market as it replaces older aircraft on some routes with its new Boeing 787-10s. SIA has already revealed that Singapore-Osaka will be the first route where the 787-10 will be deployed full time, beginning May 3. The airline said Tokyo Narita will be next on the list for the -10s, and an airline spokesman indicated Nagoya and Fukuoka would be among subsequent destinations for the aircraft. The -10 will initially take over one of SIA’s two daily flights to Osaka, replacing an Airbus A330-300. The second Osaka flight will be switched to the new type on May 16. One of SIA’s two daily Narita flights will change from 777-300ERs to 787-10s on May 18.<br/>
SIA announced Thursday that it will extend its title sponsorship of the Formula 1 (F1) Singapore Grand Prix for two more years until 2019. SIA first signed as title sponsor in 2014, initially for two years, and subsequently extended that for the 2016 and 2017 races. SIA CEO Goh Choon Pong said that the national airline carrier is "thrilled" to continue as title sponsor and looks forward to showcasing what it deemed the "highlight of Singapore's sporting calendar". Singapore GP chairman Teo Hock Seng said its partnership with SIA has been a "key component in the success of the night race". This year's Singapore GP will be held from Sep 14 to Sep 16 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.<br/>
Any entity having adequate finances and ability to run Air India can bid for a 76% stake in the national carrier, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management secretary Neeraj Gupta said Thursday. The government had last month floated a preliminary information memorandum inviting bidders to buy 76% stake in loss-making Air India along with transfer of management control. An official in the finance ministry said there has been good response from entities in airline industry as well as corporates for buying stake in the debt-ridden national carrier. "We are not looking for only an airline to take over Air India... Anybody who has (required) net worth and funds can bid for Air India," Gupta said. The secretary said the government has kept financial capacity of the bidder as the main criteria for disinvestment of Air India. <br/>
EgyptAir said it will operate two weekly flights from Kuwait city to the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag as of Friday as part of the company's plan to provide more facilities and privileges to its Egyptian customers in Kuwait. Regional manager of EgyptAir Fathy Nazih said that the new flights will be operated on Fridays and Sundays. The company will also run one weekly flight from Kuwait to Cairo, Nazih added. The number of flights will be subject to further increase in the future, he said. <br/>