Air France-KLM is mulling the closure of Joon, its newest airline brand, company sources told Reuters, in an about-face that could help new boss Ben Smith address the chronic underperformance of the main Air France business. The discussion about scrapping Joon, which has not been decided, may be a sign of the Canadian CE’s determination to tackle weak Air France profitability head-on rather than mitigate it with lower-cost secondary offerings, as many of his predecessors have tried and failed to do. Smith has said Air France must narrow the profitability gap with its more efficient KLM stablemate. The Dutch carrier recorded an 8.8% profit margin last year, more than double Air France’s 3.7% margin. Joon has proven unpopular with clients, employees and investors alike. <br/>
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Korean Air Lines has confirmed plans to shift its entire information-technology infrastructure to Amazon Web Services, running its website, loyalty programs, flight control systems and other key operations in the cloud, the airline said. The move, announced Tuesday, highlights Amazon’s continued draw with enterprise customers as a cloud-market frontrunner, even as Microsoft and other cloud rivals chip away at its outsized market share. Korean Air becomes the second major carrier to go “all in” with Amazon’s cloud unit in less than a year, following a similar move by Ryanair in May, according to an Amazon spokesman. The airline said that the move to AWS will enable the carrier to “quickly and flexibly respond to market changes and customer needs in ways that were not possible with our on-premise infrastructure.” <br/>
Delta says the Atlanta airport’s Terminal F has become the “first biometric terminal” in the US where passengers can use facial recognition technology “from curb to gate.” And Delta has already announced plans to offer the technology at another of its hubs: Detroit. In Atlanta, Delta has been rolling out biometric features gradually since October. Now, starting Dec 1, all Delta passengers traveling on flights to international destinations will be able to take advantage of the biometric options for all parts of their journey when departing from the airport’s Terminal F. “We’re removing the need for a customer checking a bag to present their passport up to four times per departure – which means we’re giving customers the option of moving through the airport with one less thing to worry about," said the airline. <br/>