Russian authorities in St Petersburg have identified operator Rossiya as being among companies participating in a state property privatisation scheme. The St Petersburg government has outlined a decision to amend an October 2018 privatisation decree which set out privatisation initiatives for 2019 and the 2020-21 planning period. Rossiya is just over 25%-owned by the local St Petersburg administration, according to a document published by city governor Alexander Beglov on 5 August. The document gives a net asset value of Rb7.36 billion ($112 million). Privatisation of the state property would potentially provide the possibility of dividends and the reduction of a burden on the budget, it says, and give businesses independence in their financial activities. The St Petersburg government points out that it has a "lack of control" over companies in which it does not have a controlling stake. Rossiya is a division of Aeroflot Group, one which was reinforced when it absorbed assets of collapsed carrier Transaero.

Source: FlightGlobal

Nordic carrier Finnair will operate in August two transatlantic flights with a biofuel blend as part of its environmental "Push for change" initiative. The airline says that flights from San Francisco to Helsinki today and on 7 August will be powered by kerosene containing 12% biofuel, which has been refined from used cooking oil in California. Senior vice-president communication and corporate responsibility Arja Suominen states that the "Push for change" programme is an "important step for Finnair" to enable customers to reduce carbon emissions for their flights, and that the airline is "pleased with the early phases of the initiative". Passengers are able to offset carbon emissions or purchase biofuel for their flights through the programme. "We naturally hope that customers will be increasingly willing and interested in using the service in the future as well," Suominen says.

Source: FlightGlobal

Delta and its joint venture partners Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic will carbon-offset more than 1,800 metric tons of emissions from more than 15,000 Delta, Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic customer flight segments to and from Chicago surrounding the 2019 GBTA convention, the preeminent annual industry gathering of travel sales and service professionals globally. “We know sustainability is important to every member of the Delta, Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic family, including those who we do business with daily and our many thousands of corporate and business travelers who fly us every day,” said Bob Somers, Delta’s Senior Vice President – Global Sales. “These offsets are symbolic of our continued commitment to sustainability and our long-term target of reducing our carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050.”
“I’m also pleased to share that Delta, Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic have committed to increase the ease of purchasing carbon-offsets for all our customers who book their travel on Delta.com, AirFrance.us, KLM.com and VirginAtlantic.com” Somers said.

Source: World Airline News