The Italian govt will take full control of Alitalia in June, Industry minister Stefano Patuanelli said Thursday, adding the airline would have gone bust due to the coronavirus crisis otherwise. Alitalia has been run by state-appointed administrators since May 2017 and the difficulties caused by the pandemic came on top of deep-rooted financial problems for the business, scuppering an earlier plan to sell it to private investors. Patuanelli said Alitalia's revenue had shrunk by 87.5% so far this year. Speaking before a parliamentary committee for transport, the minister said the govt would create a new company at the beginning of June that would take 100% of the airline. "The new Alitalia will start with a fleet of more than 90 aircraft compared with its current 113 airplanes," Patuanelli said. <br/>
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Delta Air Lines is seeking to raise US$3b from loans and bonds as it grapples with a global travel shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The company is offering 5-year bonds to investors at a yield of about 7%, according to people familiar with the matter. Delta is also seeking a term loan under the plan, and the financing would be evenly split between the two, the company said late Wednesday. The debt will be secured by collateral including domestic slots at New York airports and those at Heathrow in London as well as other European and Latin American routes. Delta’s latest debt will help boost liquidity, after the company reported Wednesday that Q1 sales tumbled 18% to US$8.59b.The company also vowed to cut its daily cash burn in half as it seeks to scale back operations. <br/>
Air France-KLM CE Ben Smith said Thursday he had given up his 2020 bonus, after a Dutch minister urged executive pay restraint in return for the billions of euros in govt aid sought by the airline group. Smith, who had offered in March to trim his pay in response to the coronavirus crisis, said in a statement the cut "includes forfeiting my annual short-term variable compensation". The move follows an outcry in the Netherlands over new performance criteria that appeared to reward the CE for attracting state aid - prompting Dutch Finance minister Wopke Hoekstra to call publicly for his bonus to be scrapped. "Bonuses in these times of crisis are unwise and incompatible with support funded by taxpayers' money," Hoekstra said. <br/>
Seven Russian airlines have received permission to transport cargo in the passenger cabin, when no passengers are on board, as the coronavirus outbreak has halted the majority of flights, the Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said Thursday. International passenger flights, with the exception of those bringing Russian home from abroad, have all been suspended, leaving airlines looking for alternative ways to make money. Domestic flights within Russia have continued to operate, but demand for them has also sharply fallen. Aeroflot and it's unit, Rossiya Airlines, have been included on the list, along with Ural Airlines, Nordwind Airlines, Azur Air, Ikar and Royal Flight. The list could be added to, Rosaviatsiya said. <br/>