German services union ver.di said it was calling off a strike planned Monday at Lufthansa's catering subsidiary LSG Sky Chefs, which provides on-board meals for hundreds of airlines. The walk-out, which would have hit airports in Germany, was cancelled after Lufthana "made an improved offer at short notice", the union said. On Saturday, it had called the strike while accusing Lufthansa of failing to secure pay guarantees for LSG staff as the catering unit's European operations are sold to Swiss-owned Gategroup. LSG Sky Chefs is the world's second biggest flight caterer, providing meals for 300 airlines. On Tuesday, Lufthansa said it would sell the subsidiary's European operations to Gategroup, without giving financial details. Ver.di said representatives would meet with Lufthansa Wednesday for a new round of negotiations when it hoped the airline would "take social responsibility for around 7,000 employees affected" by the sale.<br/>
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South African Airways and lenders have had “intense discussions” to secure funds for the cash-strapped carrier’s operational and structural transition, the country’s public enterprises ministry said Sunday. SAA was hit last month by a crippling strike that pushed it to the brink of collapse. The department, headed by minister Pravin Gordhan, issued a statement saying that the struggling state-owned airline could not continue in its present form and would need a “radical restructuring” to ensure financial and operational sustainability. “Over the past few days there have been intense discussions with lenders to secure the necessary funds to cover the operational and structural transition over the next few months,” the ministry said. The ministry is pursuing various options to turn around SAA, it added without providing further detail.<br/>
Two big travel insurance companies in South Africa have stopped covering tickets issued by SAA against insolvency as doubts grow about whether the struggling state-owned airline can survive. While the move is unlikely to push SAA into liquidation by itself, it will hurt ticket sales and exacerbate a cash crunch that left the airline unable to pay salaries on time this month, analysts said. SAA has not made a profit since 2011 and has been struggling with an unprofitable network, inefficient planes and a bloated workforce, despite bailouts of more than 20b rand ($1.4b) over the past three years. Its financial position worsened dramatically after Nov. 15, when two of its largest unions began an eight-day strike over pay that forced SAA to cancel hundreds of flights. Banks want additional guarantees from the state before they lend SAA more money but Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has refused, leaving the airline’s finances on a knife edge. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan still wants to save SAA, which says it needs to more than 2b rand ($136m) quickly to stay afloat. President Cyril Ramaphosa has stayed out of the tussle so far but the longer Mboweni refuses to sign off on guarantees, the more likely it is that SAA will shut down - an outcome an SAA board member said last week was a possibility. Santam’s Travel Insurance Consultants said this week it had stopped its travel supplier insolvency benefit for SAA flights then Australian agency Flight Centre Travel Group said it would stop selling SAA tickets. The company that administers Hollard Travel Insurance said Friday it had also excluded SAA from its travel supplier insolvency coverage, citing the airline’s finances.<br/>
EgyptAir operated Friday its first non-stop flight to Hangzhou, China from Cairo International Airport terminal 3, carrying 260 passengers. The new airline came in line with Egypt's keenness to expand to the Asian market, and activate the movement of tourism coming from the Far Eastern cities, Chairman and CEO of EgyptAir Airlines Ashraf El-Kholy said. The company also aims to provide a distinctive service at a competitive price, El-Kholy added. "The inauguration of the new routes comes within EgyptAir's interest in expanding in the Asian market and providing a distinctive service at a competitive price," said EgyptAir. EgyptAir has previously been operating daily flight to Guangzhou, three flights a week to Beijing and two flights a week to Chengdu, said Xinhua.<br/>