United Airlines set a record in July for most traffic ever in a single month. Now Delta Air Lines says it did, too. Delta said it carried 18.3m passengers in July across its global network. The airline's previous record was 17.7m passengers flown in June. Like United, which struggled at times to operate on time given the record passenger count coupled with weather issues, preliminary data indicates that Delta’s record passenger traffic and weather also put a bit of a dent in the airline's typically stellar on-time performance. With traffic continuing to grow as both carriers expand their route networks, United and Delta will have to pay special attention to the massive New York area market, where both carriers have major exposure. When ATC orders weather-related ground stops, air traffic is snarled, causing massive delays and cancellations. <br/>
sky
Saudi Arabia's state airline is suspending flights in and out of Toronto amid an intensifying diplomatic row with Canada. Ottawa refused to back down in its defence of human rights after Riyadh froze new trade and investment and expelled the Canadian ambassador in retaliation for the country's call to free arrested Saudi civil society activists. In her first public response to Saudi Arabia's actions, foreign minister Chrystia Freeland said, "Let me be very clear... Canada will always stand up for human rights in Canada and around the world, and women's rights are human rights." Later, Saudia, made the announcement on its Twitter account that it was suspending flights from Aug 13. The news prompted users to ask how Saudis already on holiday in Canada were going to get back. <br/>
Air France-KLM and Air Europa intend to extend their existing codeshare into a joint venture, covering flights between Europe and Central and South America. Air France and Air Europa, which have been codesharing since 2003, currently cooperate on 21 European routes. Likewise, KLM has 19 codeshares with Air Europa, under a partnership that began in 2002. “Both parties are currently conducting an integral analysis of a deeper and expanded cooperation, aiming at a JV agreement between Air France-KLM and Air Europa between Europe and Central/South America to strengthen the joint offer to customers,” the airlines said. Air France-KLM and Air Europa said the extended partnership will provide improved connectivity, better seat availability and “a basis to launch new routes and direct flights” between the two continents. <br/>
Alitalia said its strategy of investing in improving passengers’ digital experience was paying off, with a double-digit increase in digital revenues in the first half of the year, even as uncertainty reigned over the carrier’s future. In the first half of 2018, digital revenues rose 19.7%, Alitalia said, with visits to the Alitalia.com site up 10% year-on-year and increased use of online check-in, the Alitalia app and self-check-in kiosks at airports, as it continues to invest to meet the needs of increasingly connected passengers. However, the carrier’s long-term future is still shrouded in confusion over a year since it declared bankruptcy in 2017, kicking off a long process of finding a suitable investor to take on the troubled carrier that has been further delayed by political turmoil in Italy in recent months. <br/>
Korean Air is boosting its already extensive US network with a new route to Boston next year, which will also strengthen its transpacific joint venture with Delta Air Lines. The Seoul-Boston service is scheduled to begin April 12, 2019. It will be a year-round service operated by Boeing 787-9s and will start with 5 flights per week. Korean Air said Boston is the most popular market for service to South Korea that does not have direct flights. Delta also plans to add a flight to Minneapolis in 2019. The Boston and Minneapolis services will be the first added since the joint venture with Delta was launched in May, Korean Air said. Korean Air will serve 11 US gateways after the Boston flights begin. Together with Delta, the JV will have 115 flights per week on 13 routes between South Korea and the US by next year. <br/>