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A strike among pilots at Taiwan's flag carrier China Airlines dragged into a third day Sunday, resulting in further flight cancellations. There was no immediate word of a settlement as the pilots' union remained firm in its demands for an additional backup pilot on flights lasting eight hours or more, a more transparent system of promotion, a year-end bonus and other concessions. The official Central News Agency said a total of 47 flights will have been cancelled by Sunday. The strike came in the middle of the Lunar New Year travel rush. About 70% of the carrier's 1,300 pilots belong to the union, which has accused management of insincerity and mistreating its workforce to keep costs down. The airline has said it is willing to continue negotiations but that the union's demands in talks are different from those it makes in public. Flights cancelled included those bound for Hong Kong, Bangkok, Los Angeles, Manila and Tokyo. Most of those were departing from Taiwan's main international airport at Taoyuan, just south of the capital Taipei.<br/>

Air France-KLM is discussing whether to replace Dutch unit head Pieter Elbers over concerns he may not fully support CEO Ben Smith’s plans to strengthen ties between the two carriers, according to people familiar with the matter. Smith, who took the helm of the holding company in September, is keen for the heads of the Air France and KLM units to work closer together and back his drive to centralize more operations, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private plans. For example, the CEO wants to end the current practice of the airlines separately negotiating plane purchases and alliances, they said. French media La Tribune first reported Thursday that Smith may be pushing for Elbers’ departure. Elbers’s current contract expires at the time of KLM’s April annual general meeting and the deliberations are focused on whether or not to extend his four-year tenure, the people said. The Dutch national is concerned that KLM will be dragged down by its worse-performing partner, one person said. A spokeswoman for KLM said Elbers’s future was a matter of concern at the airline, and almost 13,000 people have so far signed an online petition calling for him to stay on. In a sign at how politically charged the issue has become in the Netherlands, the Dutch government sent a letter to KLM’s supervisory board to praise Elbers’ record, Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Friday.<br/>

Air France KLM carried around 7.4m passengers in January, up 1.5% from a year earlier, although its planes were slightly less full compared to last year. The company said its January load factor - a measure of how full are an airline’s planes - stood at 85.7%, down from 86.5% last year. Air France KLM hired Benjamin Smith as its new group CE in August, after devastating strikes led to his predecessor’s resignation. Smith has said Air France must narrow the profitability gap with its more efficient KLM stable mate. <br/>

Delta suggested a partnership with rival Alitalia bidder EasyJet that would involve a less costly contract with the bankrupt airline’s staff, while retaining operational centers at Italy’s Fiumicino and Malpensa airports, Corriere della Sera reported. The discussions are complex and in a delicate phase, Corriere said, citing four people working on the matter being handled by Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato, the national railroad operator. Both Delta and UK-based low-cost carrier EasyJet submitted separate bids in November as the government seeks a buyer for the bankrupt national airline. Ferrovie executives met in Milan Saturday to prepare for a possible board meeting on Wednesday, at which a partner or partners could be announced, the newspaper said. Ferrovie has been given the task of conducting the negotiations. The government may favour a deal with Delta because it would be easier to implement and wouldn’t require job cuts, La Stampa reported in early January.<br/>

Garuda and Go-Jek are in talks for a partnership that will make it easier for the ride-hailing and e-commerce app to move goods to customers within the 17,000 islands of the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago. Garuda CE Ari Askhara said the talks are in an advanced stage and an agreement is expected to be finalised by the two companies in the next few months. Askhara said Garuda was developing a new technology relating to e-commerce and logistics. The partnership would enable goods ordered via Go-Jek’s app in one city in Indonesia to be delivered in another using Garuda’s fleet, he said. The CEO did not provide more details. Started in 2011 in Jakarta, Go-Jek has evolved from a ride-hailing service to a one-stop app through which its customers can make online payments and order everything from food, groceries to e-commerce goods. Go-Jek, which is valued at $9-$10b according to sources, declined to comment. The Go-Jek proposal is one of several being explored by Garuda to cut its dependence on passenger traffic as the airline tries to grow its profits after a bumpy 2018.<br/>

Two Kenya Airways Embraer 190s have been badly damaged during a ground collision following a mishap during maintenance. The airline states that the accident occurred at night on 8 February, during a routine engine maintenance check at a Nairobi airport hangar. One of the aircraft – for reasons yet to become clear – began to move, and collided with another of the same type. Neither aircraft was in operation at the time, says Kenya Airways, and “no passengers were involved”. It adds that none of the maintenance personnel suffered injuries during the accident. Images circulating on social media purporting to show the scene of the collision identify the aircraft as 5Y-KYR and 5Y-FFF. The geometry of the aircraft in the photographs indicates that 5Y-KYR struck the nose of the other jet, knocking off its radome, and came to rest with its forward fuselage crumpled and pierced. The starboard General Electric CF34 engine of -KYR also rammed the forward fuselage of -FFF. Both aircraft have received “substantial damage”, says the carrier, and been withdrawn from service pending examination. The airline has not indicated whether either aircraft was occupied by crew or maintenance personnel at the time of the accident.<br/>