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Delta Wednesday reported a quarterly profit and higher-than-expected revenue for the third quarter, but warned that more expensive fuel will pressure its bottom line in late 2021 despite improving travel demand. “At present time, we’re expecting a modest loss in the fourth quarter,” CEO Ed Bastian said on a quarterly call with analysts on Wednesday. Delta said it expects its costs, before fuel expenses, to rise 6% to 8% in the fourth quarter as it ramps up flying. The carrier said it would fly 80% of its 2019 capacity, up from 71% in the most recent quarter. It expects fuel prices to rise to $2.25 to $2.40, from the average $1.97 a gallon in Q3. The airline, however, said it expects revenue to continue to recover during the last three months of the year, to a little bit less than three-quarters of the $11.4b it brought in the same quarter in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier said customers were willing to pay for “premium” seats, which the company defines as everything from its extra-legroom seats in coach to its Delta One suites on long-haul flights. Delta said the percentage of customers paying for those types of seats, as opposed to upgrades, was higher than September 2019, but declined to give more details. Delta’s Q3 profit of $1.2b, which was down 19% from 2019, was its second profit since the pandemic but the first one without US aid. Delta and other airlines received billions of dollars in federal assistance to keep them afloat during the crisis. <br/>

Delta CE Ed Bastian on Wednesday waded into the debate on mandating coronavirus vaccines, saying government directives are not the only way to make people get the jab. “Mandate is only one way to get people vaccinated,” Bastian said. “It’s a very blunt instrument.” As part of efforts to control the pandemic, which has killed more than 700,000 Americans, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, last month signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to mandate COVID-19 shots for employees and get them vaccinated by Dec. 8. While supporters of vaccine mandates see them as necessary to pull the country out of the nearly two-year-old pandemic, critics are calling them unconstitutional and authoritarian. The White House on Wednesday said vaccine requirements have driven up COVID-19 vaccination rates by 20 percentage points. The measure has drawn a sharp reaction from some Republicans, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday barring COVID-19 vaccine mandates by any entity, including private employers.<br/>

Delta is confident it will return to sustained profit starting in 2022, in part fueled by “a new class” of premium travelers. With business bookings making a slow recovery during the Covid-19 pandemic, consumer demand for the higher-priced seats typically occupied by corporate executives has climbed. The airline expects that trend to stick. “The pandemic created a new class of customer: high-end consumers that want these products but didn’t have access previously because they were given to business customers,” Delta President Glen Hauenstein said Wednesday. “We do think there’s a higher level of demand for those products moving forward,” he said. Demand for premium-class seats, often provided free to reward elite travelers, is higher than in coach, even with business customers mostly on the sidelines. That’s why Delta will resume installing premium economy seats on long-distance international aircraft -- a process that had been interrupted by the pandemic. “What we’re seeing is people are willing to pay us for those seats,” Hauenstein said. “That’s why we want to create more over time. We’re making sure we have enough for customers who are willing to pay for them and for complimentary upgrades.” Domestic business travel demand was close to 50% of 2019 levels last week, Delta said. International flights have been flying about half full, a situation that is expected to improve when the US opens its borders to flights from Europe next month, CEO Ed Bastian said.<br/>

Over a decade ago, when Francesco Galietti had to travel from his native Rome to Milan for work, he used to fly the nearly 400-mile route. Today, he takes the train. Galietti -- CEO of Rome-based political risk consultancy Policy Sonar -- is not alone. Figures released in 2019 by Italy state railway company Ferrovie dello Stato show that the number of passengers taking the train on the country's main business route, between Rome and Milan, has almost quadrupled in a decade, from 1 million in 2008 to 3.6m by 2018. Over two thirds of people traveling between the two cities now takes the train. It's a remarkable endorsement of Italy's high-speed rail network, which debuted in 2008. Traveling those near-400 miles between Milan and Rome takes as little as 2 hours and 59 minutes. And, of course, the train stations are in the city center, and there's no need to turn up long before your train -- the doors close two minutes before departure. Contrast that to a minimum half-hour drive to Rome's Fiumicino, checking in 90 minutes before departure, an hour in the air and then landing outside Milan -- Linate airport, the closest, is about 20 minutes' drive into town -- and it's obvious why people are opting for the train. Which leads you to wonder, as Italy's national airline prepares to shut down on October 15 -- did the high-speed railways kill Alitalia? Galietti thinks so.<br/>Story has more.<br/>

The Danang International Airport welcomed the first commercial flight from HCM City operated by Vietnam Airlines on Tuesday evening after the route resumed, the carrier said. Passengers on the flight satisfied pandemic prevention and control requirements including a negative Covid-19 test certificate, full vaccination with two shots, or certificate of recovery from the disease. The airline has restored 14 domestic routes since Oct 10. For the routes between Danang and Hanoi and HCM City, it is allowed to conduct five return flights on each route during the pilot period from Oct 10 to 20. The number is expected to increase in the coming days after cities issue specific pandemic prevention and control regulations and facilitate the travel of people. Vietnam Airlines operated nine commercial flights on Tuesday, comprising two between Hà Nội and HCM City, two each on routes connecting HCM City and Huế, Đồng Hới and Phú Quốc, and one between HCM City and Danang.<br/>