Italy's senate voted Wednesday in favour of a decree that extends the timeframe for the Alitalia sale process. There were 264 votes in favour, 14 abstentions and no votes against the decree on its second reading. It moves the deadline – last set at April 30 – to Oct 31, and renews until Dec 15 the term of a E900m (US$1.04b) loan provided to Alitalia. During the session, the Five Star Movement's senate spokesperson highlighted a E160m loss accrued by Alitalia and said the carrier's cash balance was "insufficient" to guarantee repayment of the loan and interest. "Time to avert bankruptcy is tight. Buyers need to be properly chosen so as not to disperse a strategic asset," he adds. An amendment to the decree specifies that Alitalia's commissioners must make regular reports to the senate on the carrier's "economic and financial situation". <br/>
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Aeroflot Group reported a 2018 Q1 net loss of RUB11.5b (US$2m), nearly doubled from a year-ago period. Revenue for the quarter was RUB111.9b, up 8.5% year-over-year. “This is the first time that Aeroflot Group has published its consolidated IFRS financial results for the first quarter of the year. This has been made possible by the company’s focus on improving its internal accounting systems with the goal of accelerating the closing of the accounting period and submitting its financial reporting,” Aeroflot deputy CE for commerce and finance Shamil Kurmashov said. In Q1 Aeroflot Group carried nearly 11m passengers, up 6.6% YOY. Domestic traffic reached 6.1m, up 6.5% YOY, and international traffic increased 6.8% to 4.9m. <br/>
Delta Air Lines CE Ed Bastian Wednesday dismissed threats posed by discount transatlantic airlines, saying carriers like Wow Air and Norwegian Air don’t present a “meaningful risk” to established airlines, while asking whether long-haul discounters can continue to justify their models as fuel prices increase. “I don’t think that fuel prices, for example, are sustainable over time in the ultra-low-cost markets,” Bastian said. “Fuel prices have jumped 50%t in the last year. It’s causing a big impact on their business model and something that the bigger carriers...can actually afford and can invest against to be able to get the pricing where it needs to be.” Bastian said higher fuel prices should make transatlantic discounters more rational about what routes they fly. <br/>