Korean Air Achieves Record High Q2 Results

– Korean Air, South Korea’s flagship airline, announced today its financial results for the second quarter of 2010 ended June 30, 2010, which hit record high in terms of the operating revenue.


Thanks to the global economic recovery which spurred demand for both international passenger travel and cargo traffic, the airline posted an operating revenue of 2,836.4 billion KRW in the second quarter of 2010, a year-on-year increase of 36.7%, the highest second-quarter revenue in Korean Air’s history. International passenger and cargo businesses remained the major revenue contributors for the airline, accounting for 47% and 36% of the operating revenue respectively. Operating profit of the airline returned to the black from a loss of 127.3 billion KRW in the second quarter of 2009 to a surplus of 352.1 billion KRW during the reporting period. Profit margin was 12.4%, a significant year-on-year improvement and another historic record.

For the six months ended June 30, 2010, the airline recorded an operating revenue of 5,435.4 billion KRW, up 25.3% year-on-year, while operating profit reached 572.3 billion KRW, up from a loss of 120.7 billion KRW comparing with the first half of 2009.

Passenger Traffic

A continuous growth was seen in the passenger traffic since the second half of 2009 as a result of the rebound of the global economy. During the reporting period, passenger traffic recorded 14,646 million RPK, which marked the highest second-quarter traffic level in Korean Air’s history.

Revenue generated from this segment posted a year-on-year increase of 25.8% to 1,486 billion KRW. Rapid growth of leisure travel demand for short-haul routes such as China, Japan and Southeast Asian regions, together with the benefits brought by the visa waiver program for Korean passengers to the US regions, helped to boost international passenger revenue by over 25% in those regions. Among all international routes, China recorded the biggest growth of 50% in passenger revenue.

Cargo

Attributable to the increasing exports of IT products (such as LCDs, semi-conductors and cell phones), cargo traffic reached 2,503 million FTK, up 26.2% year-on-year, the highest quarterly growth record for Korean Air. Cargo traffic to Europe more than doubled, and cargo traffic to the Americas and Japan nearly doubled during the reporting period. Revenue generated from this segment posted a year-on-year increase of 86.4% to 1,020.2 billion KRW.

Korean Air will continue to expand its business prudently while enhancing the quality of its service. With its long-standing commitment to achieving “Excellence in Flight”, Korean Air aims to provide the best quality to its customers while bringing the best returns to its shareholders.

* Exchange rate on June 30, 2010: 1 US Dollar = [1210.30] KRW

Korean Air, only a touch away with Android Phone

Korean Air launches its own Android Application service from July 29 to users worldwide. The Korean Air Android Application will allow the traveling public to verify and search up-to-the minute flight and airline information with just one touch, similar to the Korean Air iPhone Application launched in May.

Services available through this application, like the iPhone, include flight status check, schedules and availability check, current reservation information, ticket fares and SKYPASS mileage records.

Plus, Korean Air has added a special menu that links directly to the Korean Air travel site (travel.koreanair.com). The site contains many useful travel information including Korean Air’s TV ad for Europe, “Listen to Eastern Europe”, which is a sound tour guide for famous Eastern Europe tour destinations.

To enjoy this privileged service, customers can simply download the free application from the Android market. This application is available in multiple languages including Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese for users all around the world.

With the increasing number of worldwide smartphone users, Korean Air will continuously upgrade its smartphone application services through supplementing additional functions such as seat reservations and pre-seat assigning to increase passenger’s comfort.

Korean Air’s iPhone Application which was launched in May 17 has been downloaded by more than 120,000 users worldwide.

Korean Air deploys A330 -200 Enhanced aircraft on mid and long haul routes

Korean Air has further enhanced its award wining flight service with the deployment of next generation aircraft on its mid and long-haul routes to combat carbon emissions and to provide even greater comfort for passengers.

Korean Air today has started deploying on select routes the A330-200 Enhanced aircraft, one of Airbus’ main models which offer enhanced features such as better fuel efficiency, lower CO2 emissions and an expanded range of cabin facilities.

The new A330-200 Enhanced next generation aircraft can carry up to 226 passengers and has a range of added features to improve passenger experience. Installed with a PW4170 Advantage70™ engine, the aircraft offers maximum fuel efficiency and can reduce CO2 emissions by about 650 tons each year.

In addition, Korean Air’s premium seats and state-of-the-art AVOD system are available in all classes, providing customers with the most enjoyable air travel experience. Additional cabin services used to be found only on B777-300ER aircraft such as mood lights, real time visuals of taking off and landing, and LED reading lamp are now available on this aircraft.

A part from the new aircraft unveiled today, Korean Air will add five more A330-200 Enhanced aircraft by 2013 to its mid and long-haul destinations such as Mumbai (India), Tel Aviv (Israel), Melbourne (Australia) and Nandi (Fiji).

Prior to the delivery of the A330-200 Enhanced, Korean Air has adopted six B777-300ER next generation aircraft with upgraded efficiency since last May. Together with the completion of cabin refurbishment in its current B777s and A330s fleets, Korean Air is able to continue to provide passengers with unmatched services in its class.

Korean Air’s commitment to service excellence has won it six A330 Awards for Top Operational Excellence awards since 2000, a testament to the airline’s top class operating, maintenance and safety standards.