Can the authors grant the permission to reuse figures copyrighted by the publisher? I'm preparing a article for possible publication on the journal “Progress in Aerospace Sciences” (published by Elsevier).

I plan to reuse some figures cited from articles published and copyrighted by AIAA.

I tried the Copyright Clearance Center, but to be honest, I may not accept the price.

Thus, I'm trying to contact directly with the authors
(the lead author if no correspondence author is noted).

Can the authors grant me the permission?
No.

If the copyright in the articles lies with AIAA, then it is they who must license it, or parts of it.

You may be able to recreate a similar diagram, acknowledging the original one.

(I am not a lawyer.)