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A Delta Air Lines flight over the weekend was cut short and the plane returned to Salt Lake City after a panel behind one of the two engines fell off during takeoff. The Airbus A330neo jetliner left for Amsterdam on Sunday but got only as far as the Montana-North Dakota boundary before turning back and landing in Salt Lake City three hours later. According to information on a safety database for the FAA, a pylon panel behind the engine on the left wing “detached on takeoff.” Pylons are structures used to attach engines to the wing, and they include fairing panels that are not load-bearing but improve aerodynamics. It was not clear how pilots became aware of the missing panel. Delta said Tuesday that the plane returned safely after “a reported mechanical issue.” There were 260 passengers and 13 crew members on the flight. Delta said there were no injuries and the plane taxied to the gate under its own power. The airline said it apologized to customers for delaying their travel and was working to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible. The incident was at least the third time in three months that a panel has come off a US jetliner.<br/>

Kenya Airways swung to an operating profit of 10.53b shillings ($80.38m) last year, it said on Tuesday. One of Africa's three biggest carriers, Kenya Airways slid into insolvency in 2018 after an expansion drive left it with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. Last year's operating profit was the airline's first since 2017, it said, buoyed by a 53% increase in revenue to 178.5b shillings. "It is an indication that we are well on our path to recovery," CEO Allan Kilavuka told an investor briefing. The revenue growth was underpinned by a 35% increase in passenger numbers, he said, adding that it will increase flights on popular routes such as Nairobi to London and secure new planes to take advantage of that momentum in demand. The airline expects to receive an additional cargo freighter soon and it will receive another Boeing 737-800 passenger jet by Q3 of this year to boost capacity, Kilavuka said. Revenue from the airline's cargo business was down for the year, in line with the global trend, he said. Kenya Airways posted a pretax loss, however, as a steep weakening of the Kenyan shilling led to loan revaluation losses. The shilling has started to strengthen against the dollar, meaning the outlook for this year is more positive, Kilavuka said. "The FX situation is improving ... We do expect this will work in our favour this year," he said, adding that it would help the company to attain bottom line profitability.<br/>

Kenya Airways has started the process of identifying suitable partners to support capitalization of the company to boost its efforts to reduce debt and expand operations. KQ, as the carrier is known, plans to announce a strategic investor by the end of this year, CEO Allan Kilavuka said Tuesday in a virtual briefing. The carrier, which is 48.9% state-owned, didn’t receive a direct disbursement from the National Treasury last year and instead got support in restructuring some debts, he said. “The one thing that we have not yet completed is really to rethink our balance sheet — that is completely essential and that’s what we are really focused on this year,” Kilavuka said. “We are still projecting to break even at the very least for 2024.” KQ said in June it owed creditors $1.35b and was at risk of defaulting on a $420.5m government loan. Other loans include $439.8m owed to a special purpose vehicle domiciled in Delaware set up for the acquisition of seven aircraft and an engine, and $97.9m from another one incorporated in the Cayman Islands to purchase 10 Embraer jets. Local lenders are owed more than $224.9m, while liabilities to suppliers, who include fuel companies, total $164.2m. The airline swung to an operating profit of 10.5b shillings ($79.6m) last year, and the annual loss narrowed by 41%, CFO Hellen Mathuka said during the briefing. <br/>