Korean Air Cargo enjoys first-quarter boost

© Volodymyr Kyrylyuk

Korean Air has announced its first-quarter results, which show that freight tonne kilometres increased 7.9%, year-on-year, with a particularly pleasant 11.5% bump in February. Load factors rose 3.4 percentage points, while yield in US cents rose 10.6% to ¢24.8. Capacity, in available freight tonne km rose 3.2%. Cargo accounted for 22.8% of the carrier’s total revenues, up from 20% a year ago. The carrier’s total net income for the quarter was KRW559bn ($499m).

Revenues for the Americas accounted for 40% of Korean’s cargo business, while Europe was 27%. South-east Asia only accounted for 16%, but revenue for the region was up 32%, year-on-year. The Americas saw revenue rise 11%, while Europe was up 12%. The carrier said it expected air cargo demand to increase, due to the recovery in developed country consumption and Korean exports. It plans to expand new air cargo products and to improve profitability by providing flexible capacity.

You can see the full results here.