US major Delta Air Lines will at the beginning of April start operating quarantine-free flights from New York JFK to Italy's Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa airports. The new flights will allow the passengers to avoid Italy's mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival, as they will entail a rigorous pre- and post-flight testing regime to determine an individual's Covid-19 infection status. The Rome and Milan services, to be launched on 1 and 2 April respectively, will be operated through 30 June, and are available to all citizens permitted to travel to Italy for essential reasons such as education, health or work, says Delta.
Frequency on the Rome route will step up from an initial thrice-weekly to daily service in June. The Milan flights will be operated four times per week for the first month and then daily from 2 May.

Turboprop manufacturer ATR is focusing on the aircraft replacement market, new variants, and incremental improvements of its product line as means to recover from the crisis. The manufacturer, jointly owned by Airbus and Italian aerospace group Leonardo, delivered 10 aircraft and received six orders in 2020, it says. In 2019, the Toulouse-based company had delivered 68 aircraft and received 79 orders. Among the 2020 deliveries was the turboprop family's first purpose-built freighter, based on the ATR 72-600, which was handed over to FedEx in December. That variant and an in-development short take-off and landing (STOL) version of ATR 42-600, scheduled to be delivered from second half 2022, are at the centre of the manufacturer's plan for recovery from the pandemic. ATR says it has a "clear and actionable plan to overcome the current challenges by continuing to pioneer sustainable and cutting-edge solutions for regional connectivity". Beyond the new STOL and freighter variants, ATR is banking on demand arising from the need to replace ageing aircraft, citing a fleet of around 900 regional turboprops that reach the end of their service life over the next years. Additionally, the manufacturer says it will provide "incremental improvements" to enhance operational efficiency and reduce maintenance costs of its products. Such improvements were also introduced in the past to sharpen ATR's edge versus its sole remaining Western-built rival, the De Havilland Dash 8-400. In February, Canadian manufacturer De Havilland said that it would, during the first half of this year, "pause" Dash 8 production for an unspecified period, citing "the impact of the pandemic on demand for new aircraft globally". Amid wider efforts to improve aviation's environmental credentials as part of the recovery, ATR says it will be "further investigating its possibilities" to reduce fuel consumption until "new disruptive technologies" become available. Chief executive Stefano Bortoli does not foresee an improvement in air travel before the end of 2020. He argues, however, that the crisis has made ATRs "more attractive" for operators in European and North America, while he sees continued turboprop demand in regions in Asia, Latin America and Africa where ground transport is "not a practical choice". ATR says it is "determined to emerge stronger from the Covid crisis".

Air Canada has drawn up climate targets to realise a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions throughout its global operations by 2050. The flag carrier has set absolute mid-term greenhouse gas emissions net reduction targets by 2030 in its air and ground operations versus its 2019 baseline and has committed to investing C$50 million ($40 million) in sustainable aviation fuel and other low carbon aviation fuel development to boost its work on sustainable aviation fuels. Moreover, Air Canada will continue to deploy its newly-modernised and energy-efficient Airbus A220 and Boeing 737 Max narrowbody fleets that are expected to average approximately 20% less fuel consumption per seat and emit approximately 20% less CO2 and 50% less nitrogen oxides than aircraft they replace. The airline says it will also further evaluate the viability, safety and performance of new electric, hydrogen or hybrid operational technologies and other innovations such as short-haul transportation opportunities and electric drones to complement and support Air Canada's global business network. Air Canada will also explore carbon negative emission technologies and other direct emission reduction and removal strategies in addition to further developing its carbon offset strategy for the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation compliance and customer offerings.