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Media
SOUTH KOREA's flagship carrier Korean Air has announced a third quarter net profit of KRW264 billion (US$228.7 million), sharply up from a loss of KRW684.1 billion for the same quarter last year.
For the quarter ended September 30, 2009, the airline posted an operating profit of KRW100.1 billion compared to loss of KRW25.1 billion a year earlier on a 14.7 per cent drop in operating expense, which the carrier attributed to "lower fuel prices and a stronger Korean won, as well as better performance in its international passenger business," a company statement said.
During the quarter under review, the airline's operating revenue held steady at KRW2,476.6 billion "in spite of a challenging operating environment for the aviation industry," it said.
The international passenger business was said to have performed well during the quarter and remained the largest contributor to operating revenue with a 55.7 per cent share, up 2.1 percentage points from the previous year.
International passenger capacity and traffic were up 3.7 per cent and 4.4 per cent year on year to 19,428 million ASK and 14,516 million RPK, respectively, during the quarter.
On the other hand, the capacity of the airline's cargo business was down 6.5 per cent year on year to 2,782 million AFTK on falling global demand. On a month to month basis, however, demand for cargo "rose gradually as reflected in an improvement in capacity, from 898 million AFTK in July to 980 million AFTK in September this year."
The carrier added in a statement: "Korean Air is pleased to see that a moderate recovery in the economy has helped lift its business performance in the quarter although the overall operating environment for the aviation industry remained challenging. Still, lower fuel prices and a stronger won have helped reduced its operating expense. As oil prices continue to stabilise and the won strengthens further, the airline expects to deliver better performance in the coming year."
(Source:www.schednet.com)
qq.com