Delta has stopped buying the credits its oil refining arm needs to comply with US biofuel laws, leaving it with a $346m liability at the end of Q1, as it tries to persuade the White House to ease its obligations, according to previously unreported financial filings and sources familiar with the matter. The decision to suspend buying is a risky gamble by the airline as these credits hit record highs and Delta works to convince the White House to ease its obligations to comply with the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the sources said. Merchant refiners like Delta-owned Monroe Energy have long opposed the RFS, which requires refiners to blend billions of gallons of biofuels into their fuel each year or purchase credits from those who do, often at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. Delta’s refinery, along with a handful of others, is seeking a temporary waiver of biofuel laws from the US EPA, arguing the costs are overly burdensome and threaten their plants.<br/>
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Aeroflot has become the latest Russian carrier to introduce the Airbus A320neo, after receiving its first of the re-engined type. The aircraft, powered by CFM International Leap-1A engines, was originally delivered to lessor CDB Aviation in November last year but placed into storage. Aeroflot says the interior cabin “echoes the design” of the A350-900 which has been active within the airline’s fleet for just over a year. “Interior lights with different lighting scenarios make the journey pleasant and comfortable at any time of the day,” it states. “The enlarged luggage racks make it possible to comfortably accommodate passengers’ carry-on baggage.”<br/>
Air France canceled a Paris-Moscow flight on Wednesday after Russia failed to approve a new route bypassing Belarus, the airline said. The French carrier, part of Air France-KLM, scrapped flight AF1154 “for operational reasons linked to the bypassing of Belarusian airspace, requiring a new authorization from the Russian authorities to enter their territory,” a spokesman said. The EU has urged its airlines to avoid Belarus and its airspace amid outrage over Sunday’s forced landing in Minsk of a Ryanair jet en route to Lithuania from Greece and the arrest of a dissident journalist on board. Air France, which operates several weekly services to Moscow, said it still planned to run its next scheduled Moscow flight on Friday, subject to Russian approval of a flight plan that would allow it to avoid overflying Belarus. Passengers on the abandoned flight have been assisted at Paris Charles de Gaulle, it said. “Air France regrets any inconvenience caused by this situation.” The airline has encountered no problems with other flights passing over Russia after avoiding its ally Belarus, or with a Wednesday Paris-St Petersburg service that arrived on schedule. But France is among countries taking a tough line over a Belarus warplane intercepting the Ryanair flight, including the suspension of Belarusian national carrier Belavia’s operating rights.<br/>
Italy's plan to set up a successor to its loss-making flag carrier Alitalia cleared a key hurdle on Wednesday after the EC said it had reached an understanding with Rome on parameters to ensure the new airline is independent from the old one. Long-running discussions between the two sides have foundered amid disagreement over its successor ceding half of Alitalia's slots at Milan Linate airport, the old brand and the loyalty programme. EU competition enforcers want Rome to make sure that there is no economic continuity between Alitalia and its successor Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA), otherwise the latter would be liable for the former's billions of euros in state aid received in recent years. The possible deal between the EC and Rome on Wednesday came after a meeting between European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and Italian Economic Development Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti and Economy Minister Daniele Franco. "The Commission and the Italian authorities have reached a common understanding on the key parameters to ensure economic discontinuity between ITA and Alitalia," a Commission spokeswoman said. She said talks with Rome would now continue at technical level while an ongoing investigation into the E1.3b of state aid granted to Alitalia was in the final stage.<br/>