Three Minnesota congressmen are facing backlash over taking a commercial flight home from Washington, DC, on Friday night just two days after they shared Air Force One with President Donald Trump. US Reps. Pete Stauber, Tom Emmer and Jim Hagedorn all were on the same Delta flight despite the airline’s restrictions on passengers recently exposed to COVID-19. Trump announced early Friday morning he had tested positive for the virus. Delta’s policy says customers who know they were exposed to the virus in the past 14 days cannot travel on the company's aircraft. The airline defines exposure as face-to-face contact with someone carrying the virus, or sustained contact for more than 15 minutes less than 6 feet apart. Ken Martin, chairman of the state Democratic party, said the three Republican congressmen put the health and safety of other passengers at serious risk. Hagedorn pushed back in a post on his campaign Facebook page Saturday, saying the three men had tested negative and had not been exposed to someone carrying the virus longer than 15 minutes and closer than 6 feet. He said the men also informed the airline and the flight’s captain of their situation, and the airline “made the decision to fly based upon the facts.” A Delta spokeswoman said that the flight was less than 40% full and that no one left the plane before it took off to protest the men’s presence. Another Delta spokesman said Saturday that he did not know what other passengers on the flight were told about the situation.<br/>
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Aeroflot plans to raise at least 80b roubles ($1.02b) in a secondary public offering (SPO) in Moscow, it said on Friday. Aeroflot has been hit by the new coronavirus outbreak this year which grounded most passenger planes around the world. It, however, believes in long-term structural growth of the Russian passenger aviation market, said CE Vitaly Saveliev. “The additional equity capital raised via this Offering will put the Aeroflot Group on a firm footing as we continue our recovery from the impact of COVID-19 and build for the future,” Saveliev said. Institutional investors are expected to buy Aeroflot’s new shares for up to 39b roubles, while the rest will come from existing shareholders, including the Russian government, which aims to maintain its stake in the airline at the current 51.2%, Aeroflot said. Aeroflot will start investor meetings on Friday. Books are expected to be closed on Oct. 8, a source, familiar with the possible deal, and a financial market source said.<br/>
KLM will likely have to cut more jobs than the thousands of layoffs already announced due to the coronavirus pandemic, its CE Pieter Elbers said in a message to his staff. Elbers warned that COVID-19 will limit flights more extensively than the 20-25% drop it had anticipated for next year. “We now expect even lower production, which ultimately means we need fewer people”, Elbers said in his message. “Another 10% drop in production (so 30-35% down from 2019) would mean around another 1,500 jobs less.” KLM on Thursday submitted a restructuring plan to the Dutch state, a condition of the E3.4b package in aid it is receiving to avoid bankruptcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. KLM said it would cut costs by 15%, as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50% by 2030. <br/>
KLM flight KL1376 from Bucharest to Amsterdam was evacuated before departure on Saturday following a bomb threat, which later appeared to have been a false alarm, a spokeswoman for the Dutch airline said. All passengers and crew left the plane safely, after which local authorities searched it without finding any explosives on board, a spokeswoman said. The flight to Amsterdam will now leave on Sunday, Brand added.<br/>