Korean Air’s Q1 net down 3 pct on decline in cargo biz sales

Korean Air Co., South Korea’s leading carrier, said Wednesday its first-quarter net profit fell 3 percent on-year due to a slight drop in sales involving its cargo business.

Net profit for the three months ending in March reached 345.2 billion won (US$253.2 million), compared with 355.4 billion won during the same period of last year, the company said in a statement.

Operating profit rose 5 percent to 436.1 billion won from 415 billion won a year ago. Sales jumped 20 percent on-year to 3.82 trillion won from last year’s 3.19 trillion won tally.

The company attributed the drop in net income to a slight decrease in its cargo business revenue.

The company said its network capacity has almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with the exception of China. The profitability of its passenger business improved through timely capacity expansion on Southeast Asia and Japan routes, catering to strong tourism demand, the company added.

Korean Air said it will prioritize route profitability in the second quarter amid the expansion of global capacity and intensified competition. The cargo business will capitalize on growing e-commerce demand from China by strengthening client partnerships and allocating capacity to key routes.