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Delta, Kenya Airways Ink Codeshare Pact, Strengthen Ties

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In a customer-friendly move, Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) entered into a bilateral codeshare agreement with the Nairobi-based Kenya Airways. The deal is aimed at facilitating travel between the United States and Kenya. Passengers will enjoy a one-stop seamless travel experience from the United States as a result of the codeshare partnership.

The deal allows Delta to place its code on Kenyan carrier’s flights from Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Accra to Nairobi. Also, Kenya Airways’ flights to more than 10 key African destinations, including Addis Ababa, Maputo and Johannesburg and Djibouti City have Delta’s code.

Notably, a codeshare deal allows sharing of flights, which implies that a passenger has the free will to avail any flight operated by either of the companies under the agreement, irrespective of the flight number.

We note that Delta and Kenya Airways — Africa’s leading carrier — are no strangers to each other as both are members of the SkyTeam alliance. They already have a frequent flyer partnership, under which, frequent flyers can earn and redeem miles on both carriers.

In fact, the latest codeshare deal is in line with Delta’s motive to expand its international operations as it allows the Atlanta, GA-based carrier to expand its African footprint, where it has been serving since 2006.

The association with a major player like Delta is beneficial for Kenya Airways as well, which has been struggling on the financial front. We note that Kenya Airways aims to start operating direct flights to New York later this year.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Delta carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW - Free Report) , GATX Corporation (GATX - Free Report) and Trinity Industries, Inc. (TRN - Free Report) . While SkyWest and Trinity sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), GATX carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of SkyWest, GATX and Trinity have rallied more than 76%, 34% and 28%, respectively, in a year.

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