Korean Air swings to black in Q4

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By Nam Kwang-sik
SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's top carrier, said
Friday it returned to profit in the fourth quarter of 2009 from a year ago thanks
to a fall in oil prices and a stronger Korean won.
Net profit came to 122.3 billion won (US$106.2 million) in the October-December
period, a turnaround from a net loss of 644 billion won a year ago, Korean Air
said.
Sales fell 4.9 percent on-year to 2.58 trillion won, while operating profit rose
nearly seven-fold to 154 billion won on the back of a 22 percent drop in fuel
costs.
"The strong fourth-quarter performance was attributable to lower fuel prices and
the South Korean won's ascent against the U.S. dollar," Korean Air said. "The
stronger won decreased foreign currency-denominated debts by 2.07 trillion won."
During the reported period, the local currency recorded an average 6 percent hike
against the greenback from the previous quarter.
Shares of Korean Air fell 1.84 percent to 58,800 won as of 2:31 p.m. on the Seoul
bourse, despite the strong quarterly performance.
For the whole of 2009, Korean Air narrowed its net loss to 61.5 billion won from
1.94 trillion won a year earlier. Sales fell 8 percent to 9.39 trillion won,
compared with 10.22 trillion won in 2008.
The carrier posted an operating profit of 133.4 billion won last year, compared
with an operating loss of 993 billion won a year ago.
Korean Air will increase its investment to 2.13 trillion won in 2010, up 28
percent from a year ago.
The carrier will spend 1.98 trillion won, or 93 percent of the total investment,
to add seven planes to its fleet this year.
Korean Air is targeting 10.6 trillion won in sales and 800 billion won in
operating profit this year.
ksnam@yna.co.kr
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