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Air France blamed intense competition from high-speed rail and low-cost rivals as it announced 465 job cuts and a scaling back of its domestic network. The airline said Monday it would reduce headcount through voluntary redundancies over the next year, while capacity for travel within France would fall 15% by the end of 2021. CE Anne Rigai said that while the airline would hire in some areas over the coming year, “we also have the responsibility to guarantee an even balance of our activities in certain sectors to secure their long-term viability”. The airline, which has suffered from a poor relationship with its unions in recent years, will have to navigate the job losses carefully. Strikes over pay cost it E335m in the first half of 2018. Unions Monday reacted cautiously to the plans. <br/>

Moscow Sheremetyevo firefighters reached a blazing Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet 100 within the required response time, and extinguished the fire in about 16min, according to the airport operator. The operating company says fire-rescue vehicles arrived at the scene about 1min ahead of the regulatory standard. Russian regulations dictate that firefighters must be able to reach the ends of each runway within 3min. Sheremetyevo’s operator said after the aircraft landed heavily on the runway at 18:30 an air traffic controller sounded an alarm, and 2 firefighting vehicles arrived at the scene within 2min of the touchdown. Four more rescue vehicles subsequently arrived about a minute later. Firefighters entered the burning aircraft about 5min after it landed and the fire was “completely extinguished” at 18:48. <br/>