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Air France has decided to enforce a cost-cutting plan for its pilots that was originally announced in 2012 but delayed by opposition from unions. The French arm of airline group Air France-KLM will impose a series of specific measures on its pilots that will result in lower pay per hour spent flying, the company’s human resources chief Gilles Gateau said Tuesday. A deadline set by the company for the pilots to accept an alternative plan that would have resulted in lower paid flight hours but in more flights had expired Monday without a positive answer from pilots, Gateau said. The decision made by Air France’s management comes after several months of talks with pilots to find ways to cut costs while avoiding an outright clash like the two-week strike that cost the company almost E425m in 2014. For the past four years, departing CEO Alexandre de Juniac, has struggled to make his airline more competitive to stand against increasingly aggressive budget airlines and Gulf carriers, which have more-efficient cost structures than legacy airlines such as Air France-KLM.<br/>

A bankruptcy judge has approved a settlement between Republic Airways and Delta that includes a crucial code-share agreement, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Judge Sean Lane of the US Bankruptcy Court in New York approved the settlement as well as the $75m bankruptcy financing provided by Delta, the people told The Wall Street Journal. The decision comes less than two weeks after the settlement was put before Judge Lane, who needed additional time to decide on it and the financing, which were met with objections from a group of shareholders. The code-share deal and financing also received objections from the US attorney and unsecured creditors, but these were resolved before the April 21 hearing. Still, the shareholders group wouldn’t budge in negotiations before the hearing.<br/>