Korean Air sees pre-holiday season airfreight surge

KOREAN Air has posted its second consecutive quarterly net profit, 264 billion won (US$228.7 million). This is a slight increase over the projected profit of 279.4 billion won, estimated by Thomson Reuters, and in sharp contrast to the 684 billion won net loss last year and only 78.5 billion won profit in this year’s first quarter.The increase in profits was thanks, in part, to shrinking fuel costs, which fell 40 per cent from last year, and also due to a strengthening won.Cargo has continued to be heavily hit but things may be improving. South Korea’s technology industry is currently going through a revival and this is having a knock-on effect to air cargo exports.This month the carrier is laying on an additional forty-one freighter services to move a record volume of cargo. With an extra 4,100 tonnes of cargo, estimated cargo volume for November is now 98,500 tonnes, a 57-percent year-on-year growth.Korean Air Cargo currently operates 25 747 freighters and will take delivery of four more in 2010; three B747-400Fs and one B747-8F.