North Korea's Air Koryo plans to launch charter flights between Pyongyang and Chengdu in south-west China, airline officials said, amid a major improvement in diplomatic relations between the neighbours. The flights to Chengdu, one of the biggest cities in China's vast western region, could start as early as late June if approved by China's aviation regulator, the officials said. "At the moment this is still a plan. Whether it can actually take off will be impacted by the policy environment going forward," said one of the officials, who said an application to the regulator had not yet been submitted. "Now perhaps it's Chengdu, afterwards could be Dalian, Guangzhou. If there's a market we'll fly, if not we won't," he said, noting Chinese travel agencies were involved with marketing the flights to potential customers. <br/>
unaligned
Korean Air Lines chairman Cho Yang-ho has stepped down from his post of co-CE at budget affiliate Jin Air, amid growing pressure on the members of the airline giant's controlling family to stay away from management. Cho Yang-ho has been replaced as co-CE by Kwon Hyuk-min, currently the head of maintenance at Jin Air. Cho, however, retains his post as an internal board director. The management change comes at a time when the airline group is already under fire over bad behaviour by Cho's younger daughter, Cho Hyun-min, who allegedly threw water at an attendee of a business meeting last month. In response to the public backlash over what is seen as unchecked bad behaviour by the rich and powerful, Cho Yang-ho has publicly apologised and made his daughters step down from their positions at the airline. <br/>
WestJet pilots, taking a major step closer to a costly showdown with the airline’s management, overwhelmingly approved a strike if the two sides fail to agree on a new contract during the last-ditch conciliation process currently underway. WestJet pilots are represented by ALPA. Conciliation—similar to US mediation—includes 60 days of negotiations and a cooling-off period before a strike can take place. WestJet pilots have approved a strike if talks remain stalled, with 91% of those casting a ballot—95% of the 2,000 WestJet and WestJet Encore pilots voted—approving a job action. The earliest they could walk out is May 19—the end of the cooling-off period. But the union says it will not take any action before Canada’s Victoria Day holiday weekend ends. Victoria Day is May 21. <br/>