Thousands of travellers waited in long lines stretching through the terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta, the messy aftermath of mass flight cancellations due to thunderstorms the day before. Delta Air Lines cancelled roughly 500 flights Thursday due to planes being out of position, crews being out of place and crew rest requirements after Wednesday’s storms, according to a Delta spokesman. That came after the airline cancelled about 700 flights Wednesday and diverted more than 60 flights. That’s significantly more than the 300 flight cancellations Delta had expected earlier in the day. At mid-afternoon Thursday, a ground delay program was causing delays averaging more than 5 hours long for some arriving flights. Many travellers were trying to get rebooked after spending the night in the airport. <br/>
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KLM does not intend to emulate its sister company Air France by starting a new long-haul low-cost operation, the Dutch airline's CE Pieter Elbers has indicated. Instead, KLM will apply to its long-haul services the cost-saving measures it has pioneered on its medium-haul network over the last 2 years, Elbers explains. Those have involved denser aircraft configurations and increased utilisation, he notes, adding: "We are already starting to implement that on the long-haul side as well." KLM already has a low-cost arm, Transavia, which operates mainly short-haul European and some medium-haul flights. Air France intends for Boost to begin operations in October. Earlier this year, Air France pilots represented by the carrier's largest pilot union SNPL gave conditional backing in principle to the establishment of Boost. <br/>
China Eastern Airlines reported a 2016 net profit of CNY4.5b (US$635m) in 2016, down a slight 0.73% over a net income of CNY4.54b in 2015. Operating revenue for the year was up 5% to CNY98.6b, while operating expenses grew 7.1% to CNY82.6b. The carrier cited exchange rate fluctuations and international terrorism as negative factors on its figures; however, it also noted positives factors including lower fuel prices and robust outbound traffic growth. Passenger capacity was up 13.5% to 206.2b ASKs against an increase of 14.5% in passenger revenue to 167.5b RPKs. Passenger boardings were up 8.5% to 101.7m with an average load factor of 81.2%, up 0.73 point over 2015. Looking ahead, the carrier expects passenger growth will continue, but cautions that challenges remain. <br/>