Star Alliance has expanded its paid lounge access product to their award-winning, state-of-the-art lounge at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The lounge will now welcome guests who otherwise would not be eligible, on a paid access basis. This is the second of the six Star Alliance lounges to offer paid access, following the launch of the product at the Star Alliance lounge at Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires in November 2021. Named Star Alliance Lounge Access, the product offers customers the ability to pre-book and purchase online vouchers on the Star Alliance website, www.staralliance.com. Valid for a specific date and subject to availability at time of booking, Star Alliance Lounge Access vouchers can also be purchased for the flyer’s family members, friends, or colleagues when they are flying together. Customers can also receive a discount if they are a member of frequent flyer program of an Alliance member carrier. After purchase, customers receive a receipt email and QR code valid for the day(s) and time(s) selected. Star Alliance VP Customer Experience Christian Draeger stated: “Our award-winning lounge at LAX is a must-visit. Eligible Star Alliance flyers have benefitted from the lounge experience for years, and we are now pleased to be able to allow access to guests on a paid basis. Our focus on technology-led products and services such as Star Alliance Lounge Access also provides a sound business case for underutilised lounge capacity at airports. We look forward to making the product available to all Star Alliance branded lounges in the near future.”<br/>
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Shares in Scandinavian airline SAS plunged more than 25% on Wednesday after an analyst report predicted the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. The dramatic fall came after analysts at Norwegian bank DNB updated their sell recommendation, noting that the company's debts of 40b kronor ($4.35b) are "unsustainable" and that "restructuring" is "needed to avoid bankruptcy." Since the start of the pandemic the airline has lost around 80% of its market value. While many of the Covid-19 restrictions that have plagued the airline industry have now been lifted, SAS ran into new troubles in recent days when a baggage handler strike in Copenhagen caused delays and cancelled flights. In 2020, the ailing airline cut 5,000 jobs -- representing 40% of its workforce -- and in May 2021 announced a credit line of $350m from the Danish and Swedish governments, its main shareholders, to get through the crisis. The company has received billions in financial support from the Swedish and Danish state, the two main owners. In October last year, the airline said it was fighting to change the company "so that we have a future." The company is scheduled to publish on February 22 its earnings for the three months ending in December.<br/>
Singapore Airlines has signed an order for 22 additional GE9X engines, which will power its fleet of Boeing 777-9s. The contract, announced at the Singapore Airshow, also includes a long-term engine services contract, and adds to an initial order for 40 GE9Xs first announced in 2017. It is valued at $2.8b at list price, states GE Aviation. SIA has 31 777-9 aircraft on order, and will be the first in the Asia-Pacific region to operate the type. There are also two other Asian operators with orders for the 777X: Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong, as well as All Nippon Airways in Japan. Lau Hwa Peng, SIA’s senior vice president of engineering says: “The cutting edge technologies that have gone into the Boeing 777-9 and the GE9X engines will help SIA to increase our operating efficiencies, lower our fuel burn, and materially reduce our carbon emissions. This will reinforce SIA’s position as a leading global airline, and enable us to capture future growth opportunities.”<br/>
Bali began a tentative re-opening to foreign tourists on Wednesday with the first international passenger flight to the Indonesian holiday island in nearly two years. The resumption of flights comes as the Southeast Asian archipelago loosens quarantine rules even as it battles a surge in Covid cases fuelled by the Omicron variant. A Singapore Airlines plane carrying 109 international travellers and 47 Indonesians landed in Bali on Wednesday, the island's governor Wayan Koster told a press conference. The foreign visitors must stay in a quarantine bubble at one of 27 designated hotels for three to seven days, depending on the number of vaccine doses received, according to new nationwide rules published Wednesday. "I hope that in early March, there will be no more quarantine obligation for tourists as long as they comply with health protocol requirements and show negative test results on departure and arrival," the governor said. Singapore Airlines said it will operate daily flights between the city-state and Bali to meet "good demand".<br/>
There will be more vaccinated travel lane (VTL) flight options for travellers soon, in line with Singapore's move to resume reopening its borders. The Singapore Airlines Group said on Wednesday that it will expand its VTL network to 47 cities in 25 countries in the coming weeks. SIA will progressively add Dubai, Hong Kong, Manila, New York (Newark) and Phuket to its VTL network from next Friday. It will also increase its frequencies for flights between Singapore and several existing VTL destinations. They are Bandar Seri Begawan, Colombo, Male and Phnom Penh. An SIA spokesman said Singapore's VTL arrangements have helped to unlock pent-up demand for international air travel to and through Changi Airport. She said that the new VTL services and increased frequencies will give its customers more travel options and greater flexibility.<br/>
Singapore Airlines has been banned from flying passengers to Hong Kong for two weeks, after Covid-19 cases were detected among some of its passengers. In response to queries from The Straits Times, an SIA spokesman on Wednesday said: "The directive from the Hong Kong regulators came after some SIA customers, who had tested negative for Covid-19 for their pre-departure tests, subsequently tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong. We are unable to comment further due to confidentiality reasons." The ban will affect SIA's two daily passenger services to Hong Kong, SQ882 and SQ894, until March 1. But SQ883 and SQ895, the twice-daily passenger services from Hong Kong to Singapore, are not affected. SIA said it apologises to all customers affected, and will contact them to offer help and minimise the inconvenience caused by the disruption. The carrier was previously barred from ferrying passengers to Hong Kong in April last year after it breached a trigger point that Hong Kong had set for the suspension of airline operations.<br/>
India’s central government will attempt to privatise the groundhandling arm of Air India that remains in state hands during the coming financial year (starting April 1), starting the process by issuing an EOI, an unnamed official has told the Press Trust of India news agency. It has also received the green light to sell domestic carrier Alliance Air. “We already have Cabinet approval for selling the subsidiaries of Air India. So we will come out with an EOI inviting bids for one of the groundhandling arms in the next fiscal,” the official said without specifically naming the company. Four former Air India subsidiaries are currently positioned under Air India Assets Holding, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established in 2019 to hold the flag carrier’s non-core assets and most of its debt. These are the groundhandling firm Air India Air Transport Services Ltd; Airline Allied Services Ltd dba Alliance Air; MRO unit Air India Engineering Services Ltd; and the Hotel Corporation of India Ltd. When Indian conglomerate Tata Sons took 100% control of loss-making Air India towards the end of January, it also took on 100% of the equity of low-cost subsidiary Air India Express and 50% of groundhandler Air India SATS. Singapore-based groundhandling and inflight catering provider SATS Ltd owns the other 50% of the latter.<br/>