Lufthansa is optimistic about the success of its potential bid for a stake in Italy’s ITA Airways led by shipping group MSC, the German airline’s CE Carsten Spohr said on Monday. “It will be very difficult for ITA against us. We have proven in Austria, Switzerland and Belgium be that you can work well with us. So yes, I’m optimistic because we’ve proven how the business model would work,” Spohr said in a news conference. <br/>
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SAS is losing another senior executive in the space of two weeks, with the decision by CCO Karl Sandlund to step down. He is set to leave SAS by the beginning of October. His resignation comes two weeks after that of chief financial officer Magnus Ornberg. Sandlund has had a long career with the Scandinavian operator, joining the company 18 years ago from consultancy firm McKinsey. He served in several managerial posts, largely addressing strategic issues, and was appointed in 2014 as executive vice-president and chief strategy officer. Sandlund led a newly-created division in SAS, focused on strategic initiatives. As CCO, he temporarily took over SAS as acting CE as the airline transitioned between the leadership of Rickard Gustafson and Anko van der Werff last year. Sandlund is leaving to take up an “irresistible opportunity” in new position outside the company, as COO of AcadeMedia – an organisation that specialises in the Scandinavian education sector. Van der Werff credits him with having been a “key player” in various parts of the company. SAS will start the process to recruit a successor.<br/>
EgyptAir entered into a partnership agreement with ValU and Pay Tabs Egypt this week to provide payment solutions for airline tickets. Under the agreement, ValU will provide buy now and pay later services to EgyptAir customers to book and pay domestic and international airline tickets and make payments through the Pay Tabs Egypt payment gateway. For his part, Amr Aboul-Enein — Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Holding Company for EgyptAir — said that the national company seeks to provide easy solutions to its customers in paying tickets at an appropriate cost by relying on digital solutions to provide better services to customers. President of EgyptAir Amr Nabil said that the agreement with ValU and Pay Tabs Egypt provides the possibility of paying the value of airline tickets for larger segments of customers using flexible payment methods suitable for their needs. Nabil stressed that the agreement is the first partnership of its kind for EgyptAir and that the airline’s customers will benefit from a number of payment advantages to pay for domestic and international airline tickets and EgyptAir services through Pay Tabs Egypt’s payment system.<br/>