Two flight attendants for a Chinese airline were fined and ordered to leave the US within 72 hours Monday for attempting to smuggle dozens of spotted and box turtles in carry-on bags from Los Angeles to China. US District Judge S. James Otero ordered Chinese nationals Huaqian Qu, 41, and Renfeng Gao, 31, to pay $5,500 each to the US Fish and Wildlife Service before returning to China within three days. They were also sentenced to three years of probation. The two China Eastern Airlines attendants pleaded guilty last month to a federal conspiracy charge, which carries a possible penalty of up to five years behind bars, said the US Attorney's Office. Qu and Gao were arrested at LAX on May 12 after special agent Juan Ramirez Amezcua found a total of 31 live spotted turtles and 14 live box turtles in both attendants' luggage, according to an affidavit filed in the case. The two attendants were flagged for inspection after a TSA inspector detected "unusual round objects" in their bags while conducting an X-ray luggage check, the document shows. "Flight crewmembers could take advantage of the exemptions that crewmembers have to smuggle prohibited items such as wildlife," TSA officials said in the document.<br/>
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Alitalia is out of the expanded joint venture between Delta and its partners Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic Airways. The Italian carrier was not included in an amended joint venture application filed by Air France-KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic with US authorities on 20 July, with the airlines citing its ongoing restructuring for the move. "Although the parties hope to implement metal-neutral cooperation with Alitalia in the future, Alitalia is currently undergoing restructuring through the Italian bankruptcy process, and its future ownership structure is uncertain," the applicants say in the filing with the US DoT. Alitalia has been part of the immunised Air France, KLM and Delta pact since 2010. Air France-KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic announced plans to consolidate their separate joint venture agreements – between Air France, Delta and KLM, and Delta and Virgin Atlantic – into a single accord covering the transatlantic market in July 2017. At the time executives said that Alitalia would be included in the partnership, however none of the Italian carrier's management participated in media events and its hubs were left out of initial promotional material.<br/>