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Delta Air Lines has bumped up its stake in Korean Air’s controlling shareholder to 11%. A stock exchange disclosure by Hanjin KAL indicates that Delta owns 6.5m of its shares as of Feb 20, up from 5.5m shares or 9.21% previously, through “acquisition of shares due to trading”. The US carrier first acquired a 4.3% stake in Hanjin KAL last June, while indicating plans to target 10%. At the end of July, Delta grew its shareholdings to 5.13% and increased this further to 9.21% in September. The carriers launched an immunised joint venture across the Pacific in May 2018. The partnership has allowed both airlines to add new routes in the market, including from Boston and Minneapolis/St Paul to Seoul Incheon. <br/>

A Korean Air flight attendant has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the airline announced Tuesday. Korean Air "is creating a structure to work very closely with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Korea (CDCK) to prevent the spreading of the virus," a representative for the airline said. The airline is disinfecting aircraft, asking flight attendants with symptoms to self-quarantine, and installing thermal cameras at Korean Air's operations locations. The confirmed case also prompted Korean Air to temporarily shutter its office near Incheon International so it could be disinfected. The routes and flights flown by the infected cabin-crew member were not immediately available. As of Tuesday, Korean Air's social-media pages were flooded with comments from people attempting to cancel their flights. <br/>