Delta is making payments to management employees to help offset reductions imposed a year ago when the burgeoning coronavirus pandemic decimated travel demand and prompted workers to take unpaid leave or retire early to help slash spending. The carrier is making the payouts after accepting billions of dollars in federal aid dedicated to preventing broad involuntary furloughs, and as Congress considers a new round of economic stimulus spending that would include a further $14b for US airlines. The payments brought the reduction in total compensation for employee groups below executive-officer levels to 20% to 30%, CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees Monday. Before, some managers’ compensation had been reduced by about 50%, he said. The “one-time payments were entirely consistent and in compliance with” terms of federal payroll aid provided by the US, Bastian said.<br/>
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Italy’s new government must act quickly to break the deadlock over the revamp of Alitalia, the trade union representing the airline’s pilots and flight attendants said ahead of state talks with the European Union on the planned nationalisation. Rome has earmarked E3b for a new airline, dubbed ITA, to replace Alitalia, which has been run by state-appointed administrators since it was declared bankrupt in 2017. A state-supported flag carrier, however, needs the green light from the European Commission, which has asked for an open tender of Alitalia assets and is pressing for the new airline to forsake the old brand and some of its airport slots. Alitalia’s administrator complained last month that it would take four to five months to organise an open tender, during which the company would accrue more losses, with the creation of its replacement pushed back to mid-summer. On Monday Italy’s National Air Transport Federation (FNTA), which among others represents Alitalia crews, proposed the direct transfer of the sole aviation business from the old carrier to the new company, urging the government to push for this solution.<br/>
China Eastern, the launch customer for China’s home-built C919 jets, signed a firm order with the state planemaker on Monday to buy five of the narrowbody aircraft, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) said. The carrier, which signed a letter of intent with COMAC in 2010, is expected to take delivery of the first C919 aircraft this year once they are certified by China’s aviation regulator. The C919, which will compete with Boeing's 737 and the Airbus A320, is widely regarded as a symbol of China’s civil aerospace ambition. Without disclosing a value for the deal, COMAC said social media that the aircraft would be based in China Eastern’s headquarters in Shanghai and be deployed in routes to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and others.<br/>