Lufthansa has joined easyJet in expressing interest in struggling Alitalia, the airlines said on Tuesday. EasyJet said it has submitted a revised expression of interest for a restructured Alitalia as part of a consortium, declining to provide further details. Lufthansa then said it has submitted a document setting out its ideas for a “new” Alitalia. “We can imagine further talks being held on this basis,” a spokesman said. Alitalia said it had received three bids. Lufthansa had previously said it would only be interested in a restructured Alitalia. Bloomberg News, citing a source, reported that easyJet is teaming up with private equity firm Cerberus and Air France-KLM for its bid for Alitalia, but Air France-KLM said it had no interest in bidding. “Air France-KLM denies any interest to do a bid on Alitalia,” a spokeswoman for the Franco-Dutch group said by email when asked about the report.<br/>
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Scandinavian Airlines says it is placing orders for an additional 50 Airbus A320neo aircraft to create a single-type fleet, in a deal worth nearly $4b. SAS says the aim is to "further simplify" its existing fleet and says that the planes have 15-20% lower jet-fuel consumption compared to the aircraft being phased out of traffic. The carrier's CE Rickard Gustafson says the deal "gives us access to the market's most efficient aircraft thereby enabling us to further improve our operational efficiency and to continue to reduce our climate-impacting emissions." Delivery is to start in the spring 2019 and go through 2023. SAS already has 17 such Airbus planes in service from a previous order for 30 Airbus A320neos.<br/>
Brussels Airlines has engaged London-based JPA Design to create a new cabin interior for its Airbus A330 fleet. The upgrade will cover the entire cabin – featuring business, premium economy, and economy classes – and lavatories. JPA says the "all-new product range... will launch at the end of 2018". The design firm says its brief was to capture the Lufthansa Group carrier's "fun and vibrant personality" through the retrofit programme. John Tighe, JPA's director of transport, said that the design team spent "a great deal of time getting to know the carrier, its people and the culture of Belgium". "We've discovered the warmth of the locals, the focus on being sociable, the love of their iconic comic characters, and the quirkiness of the unique 'Belgitude' character," he said.<br/>
United Airlines won’t be making any changes to its employee bonus programme this year after halting plans for an unpopular lottery-style system. United told workers last month that it would switch from a programme allowing eligible employees to receive a bonus of up to $300 per quarter if the company hits certain operational targets to a lottery that would have handed out larger bonuses, including vacations and luxury cars, but only for some. The announcement angered employees, and the Chicago-based airline reversed course a few days later, saying it would gather more feedback before making changes. After 50 “listening sessions,” United decided to keep its existing quarterly incentive program and perfect attendance rewards in place for the rest of the year, Kate Gebo, the airline’s executive VP of human resources and labor relations, said Tuesday in a letter to employees. When it comes to the airline’s operational performance, Gebo wrote, employees said they “want to be rewarded as a team for what is truly a team accomplishment.”<br/>