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Delta says US regulators have given the green light to a joint venture with Korean Air, and the carriers are waiting for approval from the South Korean government. Delta said Friday that the US DoT approved the arrangement. It still needs approval from South Korea's transport ministry. With antitrust immunity, the airlines can share costs and revenues from flights. Delta says the airlines will sell seats on more of each other's flights and allow customers to earn and redeem frequent-flyer miles on both carriers.<br/>

Kenya Airways reduced H1 losses by 20%, helped by cost cuts, and will start flights to New York next year, its new CE said Friday as the company presses ahead with its turnaround. The airline, part-owned by Air France KLM, completed a $2b debt restructuring this week as part of turnaround plans after a slump in Kenyan travel and high financing costs on new Boeing jets sent it to the country's biggest ever corporate loss -- US$251m -- in its 2016 financial year. Shares in the company were suspended from trading on Wednesday for two weeks while it prepares to convert some loans into equity as part of the debt restructuring. "There is still room to improve but there is growth and that is a good signal for us," said CEO Sebastian Mikosz at an investor briefing after the company reported a pretax loss of 3.77b shillings for the six months to Sept. 30. Operating profit rose 52% from a year earlier to 1.44b shillings, with Mikosz citing higher passenger numbers and reduced costs. Revenue was flat, curbed by a drop in domestic and intra-Africa passenger traffic because of jitters over Kenya's presidential election in August, which was subsequently nullified by the Supreme Court. "Hopefully we don't have another presidential election so we can get on with life," said Kenya Airways Chairman Michael Joseph. "This is probably going to be a 6-12 months journey, if not longer, before we really see the results," he said of the impact of the financial restructuring on the company's turnaround plan.<br/>