Pilots at Kenya Airways have delayed plans to strike, the head of the pilots' union said Monday, after a court ruled the action illegal and the loss-making carrier said a stoppage would further hurt it. The pilots' union KALPA had called for an indefinite strike to start Tuesday to protest against the management of the airline. Paul Gichinga, secretary general of the Kenya Airline Pilots Association, said the union had held "fruitful discussions" with govt officials over the impasse but that talks with company executives would still continue. "We have taken the decision to defer the strike action to accommodate the ongoing negotiations," he said, adding the decision did not mean the group was withdrawing its strike notice altogether. <br/>
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Delta Air Lines is considering offering inexpensive fares on transatlantic flights to compete with ultra-LCCs, a company executive said. Competition from foreign LCCs was cited as one reason the airline’s revenue from transatlantic flights has been down. Delta president Glen Hauenstein said the airline is looking at its service to ensure that the airline is supplying what the public wants to buy. Hauenstein said: "What we know is Delta has a very, very strong brand and much stronger than some of the ultra-low-cost carriers, and that people would prefer to fly with us than they would on some of the unknown non-brand names. But in many cases we don't have similar configuration, mixes, product offerings, and I think that's where we're going to be looking.” <br/>
China Eastern Airlines has opened a branch company in Guangdong as the Shanghai-based carrier aims to enhance its position in the Pearl River Delta regional market of South China. The Guangdong Branch Company is China Eastern’s 18th branch company. China Eastern operates 22 aircraft on 59 domestic and 3 international routes with 120 daily flights from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shantou, Zhanjiang, Zhuhai and Foshan. Last year, China Eastern transported 6.2m passengers in Guangzhou and 3.5m passengers in Shenzhen, taking up more than 11% of the Guangzhou market and nearly 9% of the Shenzhen market, respectively. Guangdong Branch Company GM Zhai Zhigang said it would operate 3 Boeing 737-800s initially and expand its fleet to nearly 60 aircraft by 2020. <br/>