Italian Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli said on Tuesday he believed a binding offer for struggling airline Alitalia could be presented by an Oct. 15 deadline, saying the date would not be shifted again. Italian state-owned railway group Ferrovie dello Stato, US airline Delta and infrastructure group Atlantia have been discussing how to revive Alitalia for months, pushing back various previous deadlines for making a firm proposal. Patuanelli said he had met Alitalia’s commissioners on Tuesday to discuss the situation. “The overall situation of the company was examined, and there was an agreement that there are the conditions for a binding proposal to be presented by the buyer consortium by October 15,” he said, expressing annoyance over the fact that an offer was not yet forthcoming. “In this context, we call for responsibility on all sides and speedy decisions, given that the Oct. 15 deadline cannot be prolonged,” he said.<br/>
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Czech Airlines has cancelled more than half of the Airbus A320neos it originally ordered more than three years ago, while Norwegian has also trimmed its A320neo commitment. The Czech flag-carrier has cut four of the seven twinjets it ordered in March 2016, the airframer's latest backlog revision indicates. Its A320neo order had, in turn, replaced seven A320s which were still outstanding from a previous agreement. Czech Airlines still has three of the re-engined type on order. No engine selection has been disclosed. Norwegian has cut five A320neos from its own backlog, the Airbus figures reveal. They had been part of the original order for 100 A320neo-family aircraft placed in mid-2012. It takes the number of A320neos for the airline down from 63 to 58 – all of which have yet to be delivered – while its A321neo total remains at 30.<br/>
Air France-KLM reported higher passenger traffic figures for September, as the carrier looks to benefit from the collapse of the two of its smaller French competitors. Air France-KLM said it carried about 9.3m passengers in September, up 2.2% from last year. The group has been reporting higher traffic figures for 17 months running, and Air France KLM’s shares rose by around 1% in early session trading. The load factor increased by 0.6 percentage points to 89.2% from last year, the company said. Air France-KLM’s CEO Ben Smith said last month that a market consolidation through the bankruptcies of certain carriers would eventually benefit the country’s aviation industry and jobs. <br/>
Vietnam Airlines plans to debut its first inflight Wi-Fi internet connectivity on selected international and domestic flights this week. The Vietnam flag carrier said the service will also be the first such offering in Vietnam, and will be available on some Airbus A350s from Oct. 10. They will be operated on the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City domestic trunk route; and on international services from Hanoi to Shanghai and Osaka, and from Ho Chi Minh City to Osaka and Singapore. Vietnam Airlines said it will “continue its research to develop this service on Boeing 787s and A350s with better speed and accessibility.” The carrier has 14 A350s and 13 787s, according to the Aviation Week Fleet Data Services. <br/>