Aeroflot has confirmed casualties from the Murmansk-bound aircraft which returned to Moscow Sheremetyevo for an emergency landing. The Sukhoi Superjet 100, operating flight SU1492 which departed at 18:02 local time. Aeroflot says the aircraft was “forced to return” to Sheremetyevo “for technical reasons”. It indicates the aircraft suffered an “ignition of the engines” after it landed. The aircraft came to a complete stop with a severe fire aft of the wings. Aeroflot says the fire has been extinguished. Moscow Sheremetyevo airport's operator states that the aircraft made a "hard landing", after which a fire broke out. There were 73 passengers and five crew members on board the aircraft, the crew of which "reported a malfunction" and opted to return to the airport where it landed at 18:32.
“There are casualties,” Aeroflot admits. “The number is being determined. Emergency medical care is being provided to all those who need it.” With the aircraft in flames, passengers evacuated the aircraft through the emergency slides.

Alitalia is busy with negotiations to become an associate member of the new transatlantic joint venture being forged by Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM. The associate membership will change the way revenues are split among the four pr members – Air France, Delta, KLM and Virgin Atlantic Airways – and the Italy-based SkyTeam Alliance carrier while leaving their joint operations across the Atlantic unchanged, says Alitalia chief business officer Fabio Lazzerini at an event to mark the launch of the airline's new Washington DC service today. "Nothing is changing from an operational point of view – from a commercial point of view it's just changing the way we remunerate each other on our flights," he says. For example, Alitalia is planning its new flight to Washington Dulles from Rome Fiumicino with its SkyTeam partners, says Lazzerini. The airline will schedule the route five-times weekly with an Airbus A330-200 through the summer and three-times weekly this winter. These joint ventures are lucrative commercial agreements that allow carriers to operate as one in specified markets.

Korean Air plans to cancel their first class service on 27 routes operated by Boeing 787-9s, 777-300ERs and Airbus A330s from the 1st of June. The SkyTeam member says that the change is aimed at achieving “better operational efficiency” and reflects low demand for first class on several the routes. First class will be removed from a majority of its routes to Southeast Asia, Japan and China, with some exceptions to cities including Bangkok, Singapore, and Shanghai. The reduction in first class service comes after chief executive Walter Cho told a source in October 2018 that there was still a market for first class, “so we will try to keep it as long as we can.”