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Kenya Airways pilots warned the carrier against cutting jobs and offered to go on unpaid leave to help mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the East African airline. The aviators will consider voluntary breaks only if it serves “to secure jobs” and cushion the airline “from further effects of the pandemic,” the Kenya Airlines Pilots Association said in a letter to Kenya Airways. The document was verified by the association’s CEO Murithi Nyagah. KALPA, as Kenya’s pilots association is known, is concerned that Kenya Airways might use the downtime caused by the virus to cut jobs as the government moves to fully take over the national carrier, according to the letter. Pilots and other employees of sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest airline already took pay cuts of as much as 75% after governments restricted flying to curb the spread of the virus. <br/>

Korean Air’s US operation received millions in federal small-business loans aimed to soften the blow of Covid-19, federal data shows. The carrier received $5-$10m in US loans intended to help small businesses keep employees on their payrolls, according to a list of the largest recipients of loans in the Paycheck Protection Program released by the Trump administration on Monday. The Seoul-based airline, South Korea’s largest, has about 500 employees in the US, and a spokeswoman said it applied for the loan because more than half of the carrier’s operation is suspended because of the pandemic. The funds will be used toward its payroll costs of its US staff, including those in its large cargo business and in office jobs like marketing and human resources, the spokeswoman said. Korean Air is a major cargo carrier with routes to or from the Americas comprising about 40% of its cargo sales.<br/>

Korean Air is selling its in-flight catering and duty-free businesses and has signed a memorandum of understanding with local private equity fund, Hahn & Company. The investment firm describes itself as “specialising in buyouts and corporate restructurings in South Korea”, according to its website. Korean said that the move was decided at a 7 July board meeting, and the transacting parties will discuss details of the deal later, including follow-ups such as due diligence. It adds: “Korean Air will do everything it can to ensure job security of its employees in these business sectors, and will communicate closely with the labour union.” In the same statement, Korean reiterates its decision to sell assets “to overcome the prolonged crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic”.<br/>

A Delta flight from California to New York made an emergency landing on Monday, after a bird reportedly damaged the nose of the plane. The flight, that was from Palm Beach, California, to LaGuardia Airport in New York, was diverted to John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) after the pilots reported a mechanical problem. The Airbus A319, that was carrying 43 passengers, landed safely at JFK at around 7pm, but had noticeable damage to its nose, in what was first reported as a bird strike. However, it was later reported that Delta was investigating the possibility that hail might have been the reason for the dent in the nose of the plane. The airline said that “Delta flight 1076 operating from West Palm Beach to New York-LaGuardia diverted to New York-JFK out of an abundance of caution following a mechanical issue. “The flight landed safely and without incident and maintenance is evaluating the aircraft.”<br/>