Italy’s industry ministry appointed on Friday a new temporary administrator for Alitalia, after his three predecessors ended their mandate without finding a solution for the struggling airline. After a consortium of potential rescuers backtracked, the appointment of Giuseppe Leogrande allows Rome to unlock a further loan of E400m needed to keep the loss-making carrier in business and potentially increase the chances of a future tie-up with German rival Lufthansa. Sources had said last month that Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli would ask the current administrators - Daniele Discepolo, Enrico Laghi and Stefano Paleari - to quit to make room for a single administrator with more powers. A consortium of potential investors - comprising Italian railways group Ferrovie dello Stato, infrastructure group Atlantia and Delta - decided not to present a binding offer for Alitalia last month after months of negotiations.<br/>
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Indonesia will fine flag carrier Garuda Indonesia for violating aviation rules after its CE was accused of smuggling a Harley Davidson motorcycle onboard a new plane, state news agency Antara cited the transport minister as saying. A day earlier, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said CEO Ari Askhara would be dismissed over the allegations. "We have sent a letter to fine Garuda because it carried items without including them in the cargo list," Transportation Minister Budi Karya was quoted as saying on Friday. He did not say how much the airline would be fined, but said that although the incident was not on a commercial flight, cargo must be listed, Antara reported. Askhara is accused of trying to evade tax on a Harley Davidson motorcycle worth 800m rupiah ($57,000) that was found on the plane. Two expensive bicycles were also discovered. Thohir said on Thursday that an initial investigation found a Garuda employee in Amsterdam helped pay for the motorbike and assisted in the delivery. He said the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry would continue to investigate.<br/>
Aeroflot Group will resume its fleet expansion in 2020 after earlier financial losses and problems with new deliveries disrupted plans this year. The group now expects to add 31 aircraft, which will mostly go to the parent carrier and its fastest-growing subsidiary, LCC Pobeda Airlines. The group planned to take 23 new aircraft in 2019 but received only eight. Two Boeing 737-300ER widebodies went to the parent airline, while six 737-800s were handed over to Pobeda, which had to postpone deliveries of 737 MAX 8s following the worldwide grounding in March. Aeroflot also expected to get the first batch of 10 Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jets from of its order for 100 aircraft of the type. Delivery of the SSJs, however, is still in limbo as the Russian government has been unable to find a source to finance the deal. The Aeroflot board recently approved the delivery of five SSJs in the 2019 fourth quarter when the state financial corporation VEB promised to secure financing by the year-end. The group withdrew 10 aircraft in 2019, including three Airbus A321s and two A320s from the parent airline. Aeroflot also lost one SSJ during a hard landing crash in Sheremetyevo airport in May. The group said it now needs more airliners because of an expected growth in its business performance. The consolidated group carried 46.7m passengers in the first nine months of the year, a 10.6% rise over the same period in 2018. <br/>