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Delta Air Lines is considering postponing delivery of 10 Airbus A350 jetliners valued at about US$3b, even as the carrier prepares for the first arrival of the new flagship aircraft, people familiar with the plans said. While Delta will take 5 A350-900s this year as planned, it wants to postpone deliveries slated for 2019 and 2020 by 3 years. The airline has been reviewing whether it needs the 50 wide-body aircraft on order from the planemaker as it attempts to balance international flying capacity with demand. The move underscores the difficulty that Airbus has faced with its marquee jet in the US. United Continental Holdings has cooled on a larger model of the twin-engine plane, and American Airlines Group said last month that it would put arrival of its first A350 on hold a second time, to late 2020. <br/>

Loss-making airline Alitalia, which asked to be put under special administration Tuesday, had debts of around E3b (US$3.3b) as of the end of February, Italy's govt said Saturday. In a document marking the opening of the special administration process and the appointment of 3 commissioners to run the airline, the govt said Alitalia had current liabilities of around E2.3b and assets worth E921m. Rome has ruled out renationalising Alitalia, an airline that was once a symbol of Italy's post-war economic boom. The airline's balance sheet will be scrutinised by the 3 commissioners who have been given 6 months to assess whether it can be restructured, either as a standalone company or through a partial or total sale, or else liquidated. <br/>