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Delta Air Lines, which has struggled with flight delays and cancellations this summer, is letting passengers change their travel plans for the “potentially challenging” Fourth of July holiday weekend without having to pay a fare difference. The “unique” waiver is available across Delta’s system for trips July 1 through 4, as long as customers travel between the same origin and destination airports, the airline said in a statement Tuesday. In a letter to loyalty program members, Delta said this weekend will be “the busiest holiday period we have seen since the pandemic.” Many US carriers have struggled to handle domestic demand that has roared back to pre-pandemic levels as Covid-19 cases slowed. A shortage of pilots and other workers has hampered the industry. “Delta people are working around the clock to rebuild Delta’s operation while making it as resilient as possible to minimize the ripple effect of disruptions,” the Atlanta-based airline said. “Even so, some operational challenges are expected this holiday weekend.” Delta has canceled about 3% of its flights since the start of June, with 21% delayed arrivals averaging 59 minutes, according to FlightAware.com. That compares with 5% cancellations and 29% delays at American Airlines Group, and 1% canceled flights and 30% delayed at Southwest. <br/>

Delta and Latam Airlines Group are on the cusp of regulatory sign off for a broad partnership that will give them a competitive edge — at least for now — on flights between the US and South America. The US Department of Transportation found that the proposed immunized joint venture would provide “substantial” benefits in the market, and tentatively approved the pact with several conditions on June 23. Those conditions include a 10-year term, and requirements that both Delta and Latam interline with other non-aligned South American and US airlines, respectively, if such a tie up is requested. The airlines, in a joint statement, said they “applaud” the DOT’s decision, and added that the partnership will “vastly improve travel options and service for customers traveling between the two regions.” They plan to begin implementing the alliance once the regulator finalizes its decision that, given the required response and comment periods, could not occur before July 18. Approval of the Delta-Latam joint venture is a big win for the airlines. Both have suffered major blows to their international partnership ambitions at the hands of regulators in recent years. Delta dropped its planned joint venture with Canada’s WestJet in late 2020 after the DOT requested what the airlines saw as “arbitrary and capricious” conditions. And Latam ended its long-standing partnership with American Airlines in 2019 after a Chilean court blocked their planned joint venture. Latam, which is operating under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, included the Delta joint venture as a key part of its restructuring plan. A bankruptcy judge approved that plan earlier in June, and Latam plans to exit Chapter 11 in the second half of the year.<br/>

Aeromexico said on Tuesday that a majority of its shareholders approved a proposal to exit the main Mexican stock exchange as part of the airline's bankruptcy restructuring. Shareholders on Monday approved a plan to cancel registration of shares and their listing on the stock exchange in order to initiate a buy-back program, the company said. Aeromexico, which filed for bankruptcy in June 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic slashed travel demand, emerged from bankruptcy protection in March with a $5b investment plan and changes to its fleet. Delta, which held a 49% stake in Aeromexico before Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, ended with a 20% share. Private equity firm Apollo Global Management became the company's largest shareholder following Chapter 11. "Aeromexico used its status as a Chapter 11 debtor to negotiate," said Katie Coleman, co-chair of law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed's corporate reorganisation and bankruptcy practice, which served as lead counsel to Delta Airlines in the case. In negotiating with aircraft leasing companies, Aeromexico was "able to really optimise their fleet as a result," Coleman said. Aeromexico's delisting was outlined in the company's so-called registration rights agreement in the Chapter 11 proceedings, according to Coleman. "The old shares are cancelled, and the new shares of a company are issued. Mexican law requires delisting as part of that process," Coleman said. The move makes Aeromexico the latest Mexican company to go private.<br/>

Korean Air said Tuesday it will restore its international flights to half that of pre-pandemic levels by September as pent-up travel demand is unleashed amid eased virus curbs. The country's national flag carrier currently operates one-third of the 120 international flights it offered before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the airline industry in early 2020. Starting July, Korean Air will resume some international routes to the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia while expanding the number of flights on other routes, the company said. It was originally planning to restore the number of international flights to 50% of the 2019 level by the end of 2022 in line with the government's flight restoration plans. In April, the transport ministry announced it will help local airlines restore the number of inbound and outbound flights to 50 percent of the 2019 level by the year's end. If the flight restoration goes as planned, the number of the country's overall international flights will reach 2,420 a week, or 51 percent of the 2019 level, in November, the ministry said.<br/>

Garuda Indonesia has halved its debt and achieved comparable cuts to aircraft leasing costs in negotiations that have set the airline up for profitability, the Indonesian government said on Tuesday. The company had approached financial investors and foreign airlines to increase its capital, Kartika Wirjoatmojo, deputy minister of state-owned enterprises, told reporters. Restructuring of the airline's obligations, agreed this month, has come six months after an unpaid creditor forced it into proceedings for a court-supervised debt moratorium. In negotiations supervised by the court and in out-of-court settlements, Garuda had halved its debt to $5.1b from $10.1b, Kartika said. The company has also renegotiated the terms of aircraft orders and leasing contracts. It was formerly paying abnormally high rents for aircraft. During restructuring, Garuda had managed to cut lease rates for wide-body aircraft by at least 65% and for narrow-body aircraft by 35%, Kartika said.<br/>