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Delta warned Wednesday that new US tariffs on Airbus planes “will inflict serious harm on US airlines” and shrink the company’s profits. Airlines are bracing for new tariffs of at least 10% on European aircraft after the World Trade Organization said the United States could impose tariffs in response to illegal aircraft subsidies. A Delta spokeswoman said “imposing tariffs on aircraft that US companies have already committed to will inflict serious harm on U. airlines, the millions of Americans they employ and the traveling public.” The company said the tariffs “will also reduce Delta’s profits.”<br/>

Russian federal investigators probing alleged embezzlement of Aeroflot funds have charged four individuals, including a member of the flag-carrier's management board who formerly served with the country's prosecutor general. Aeroflot deputy general director for legal and property matters Vladimir Alexandrov is accused of participating in a fraud involving theft of Rb250m ($3.8m) during 2015-16. The federal Investigative Committee alleges that he conspired with a former director of the airline's legal department to arrange several contracts for provision of legal services, to be carried out by two lawyers. It accuses the group of carrying out the work internally, through legal department employees, but then transferring at least Rb250 million over 2016-18 to cover false work claims linked to the lawyers. These funds were then distributed among the accused. Aeroflot lists Alexandrov as having joint the airline in 2013, and states that he had held senior positions not only with the Investigative Committee but also the Russian prosecutor general's office. He was appointed to head the airline's legal and property matters division in mid-2016.<br/>

Criminal investigators have charged the captain of an Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet 100 in connection with the fatal landing accident at Moscow Sheremetyevo airport earlier this year. The Murmansk-bound aircraft returned to Sheremetyevo after a lightning strike but bounced heavily during the landing, igniting spilled fuel when the landing-gear collapsed. Forty-one of the 78 occupants did not survive the accident. The captain had taken manual control of the Superjet after the lightning strike but the investigation has highlighted heavy-handed and abrupt inputs to the side-stick during the approach and touchdown. Russia's federal Investigative Committee says that the aircraft made a rough landing, adding that the captain's actions to control the jet were "in violation of established rules" and led to the airframe damage and the outbreak of fire. It states that he is being charged with a crime relating to breaches of air transport safety rules which, as a result of negligence, resulted in two or more fatalities. Ten of those on board received injuries of varying severity, says the committee, which adds that the criminal investigation is continuing.<br/>

Alitalia will launch a direct connection from Rome to San Francisco for the 2020 summer season, joining direct competitor Air Italy in linking Italy to the City by the Bay. The flights will operate three times a week between 1 June and 28 October from Rome’s Fiumicino airport, the airline announces on its website this week. The Italian flag carrier will operate its Boeing 777s in a three-class configuration. It will be the only non-stop flight between the two cities. San Francisco is Alitalia’s seventh North American destination. The airline, which has been searching for new investors for the past two years, also flies to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Washington. Earlier this year direct competitor Air Italy also said it will re-introduce flights between Italy and San Francisco next March after it was the only carrier to offer direct flights to Italy during the 2019 summer season. Air Italy will operate four times a week between Milan’s Malpensa and San Francisco, using its A330s. <br/>

Air France has received the go-ahead from Transavia pilots, who are members of the SNPL France ALPA union, for an expansion plan that is part of the wider Air France-KLM Group’s bid to expand and boost profitability. The SNPL’s Transavia branch said Sept. 30 that all members had been asked Sept. 12 to vote on whether to approve Air France’s plans for low-cost Dutch subsidiary Transavia, which envisage the removal of a previous cap agreed with labour representatives that limited the unit’s fleet to 40 aircraft. However, a fellow pilots union, the SPL said Wednesday it plans to make a legal complaint, saying its members are not properly represented in discussions over Transavia’s future. The SPL had previously filed a strike notice for September and October after members of the Air France branch of the SNPL approved the Transavia development plans in July, saying at the time that Air France pilots had too much say in the future of Transavia. The SPL is largely made up of pilots who have flown for Transavia since it began operating: about 30% of the unit’s around 350 pilots. That strike notice has been lifted given the context of the wider air transport sector in France—where French leisure airline Aigle Azur is being liquidated and a court is set to decide imminently if low-cost, long-haul carrier XL Airways will also be liquidated—but the union plans to file a legal complaint over a lack of representation for its members, an SPL spokesman said. “We have been calling for development for Transavia for years—but in France there are laws, and they need to be respected,” he said. <br/>