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Air France has held talks with Alitalia about entering the race to acquire the ailing Italian flag carrier, a decade after its efforts to purchase its peer were scuppered by political opposition.  According to people familiar with the matter, Alitalia’s government-appointed commissioners met AF-KLM executives in Paris last week to discuss the Franco-Dutch airline’s interest in joining the auction, possibly through a joint bid with easyJet, the British low-cost carrier. AF-KLM’s arrival on the scene marks a new twist in the long-running saga surrounding the fate of Alitalia, turning control of Italy’s skies into a key battleground in the European airline sector. The Italian airline collapsed into bankruptcy last year, after employees rejected a deal on salary and benefits proposed by the company, in which Etihad, the UAE-based carrier, had a big investment. Now under government control, the airline has been trying to draw out potential buyers, but struggled to find a palatable option. A potential joint offer from AF-KLM and easyJet would join Lufthansa and Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity group, as the most likely contenders to buy Alitalia. This month, AF-KLM denied that it had already made a bid for Alitalia, but it did not rule out any interest in doing so in the future. People familiar with the situation say that AF-KLM may be feeling squeezed between Lufthansa and IAG, which owns BA and has a foothold in Italy through Vueling, the Spanish low-cost airline, so it may not want to sit out the Italian contest. <br/>

Delta is tightening the requirements for passengers travelling with onboard service and emotional support animals, the carrier said Friday, following a sharp uptick in pet-related safety issues in recent years. Effective March 1, Delta said it will require passengers seeking to fly with pets to present additional documents outlining the passenger’s need for the animal and proof of its training and vaccinations, 48 hours prior to the flight. This comes in response to what the carrier said was a 150% increase in service and support animals - pets, often dogs, that accompany people with disabilities - carried onboard since 2015. Alongside that increase has been an 84% spike in the number of reported animal incidents since 2016, including urination and/or defecation, biting, and a high-profile 2017 mauling of a passenger by a 32 kg emotional support dog. “The rise in serious incidents involving animals in flight leads us to believe that the lack of regulation in both health and training screening for these animals is creating unsafe conditions across U.S. air travel,” said John Laughter, Delta’s senior VP of corporate safety, security and compliance. Delta said that it flies some 700 service animals a day. Among them, customers have attempted to fly with comfort turkeys, gliding possums, snakes, spiders and other unusual pets. Rival carrier American Airlines said it was examining its own policies regarding onboard service and support animals. United said it was also reviewing its policy on onboard pets. Under federal law, service animals are permitted to fly in-cabin with their owners, provided they do not pose a threat to the health and safety of others.<br/>