Korean Air : KE : KAL

SEOUL, Nov 10, 2009 (AFP)

South Korea's main flag carrier Korean Air announced Tuesday it swung to a profit in the third quarter thanks to a
stronger won and lower fuel prices.

2009 AFP

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Korean Air posted third-quarter net income of KRW264 billion ($227.9 million), a dramatic turnaround from the KRW684.1 billion loss it suffered in the year-ago period, marking its second straight profitable reporting period after six consecutive quarterly losses.
The year-ago third quarter was KE's largest single quarterly loss in 14 years. It attributed the reversal to lower fuel prices, a stronger won and a better performance in its international passenger business. It said it expects to deliver further performance improvement over the next year if oil prices stabilize and the won continues to strengthen.
Third-quarter revenue fell 10% to KRW2.48 trillion while expenses decreased 14.7%. KE did not provide an expense figure. It recorded an operating profit of KRW100.1 billion, reversed from a year-ago loss of KRW25.1 billion.
International passenger traffic increased 4.4% to 14.52 billion RPKs as capacity lifted 3.7% to 19.43 billion ASKs, producing a load factor of 74.7%, up 0.5 point. Cargo capacity declined 6.5%. KE's international passenger business was the largest contributor to its operating revenue (a 55.7% share, up 2.1% year-over-year) while passenger traffic on US routes improved following implementation of the US-South Korea visa waiver accord. Easing concerns over the spread of swine-flu also helped revive demand, it said.
Separately, Guggenheim Aviation Partners this week took delivery of its first 777-300ER, which is slated for lease to KE. It is the airline's first leasing arrangement with the company; the aircraft will be its 25th 777.

SEOUL, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Korean Air ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]), South Korea's top airline, said on Friday it would purchase five Boeing ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) 747-8 Intercontinental jetliners worth $1.5 billion at list prices.
Korean Air became the first Asian airline to order the passenger version of the fuel-efficient 747-8, its statement said. Korean Air, the world's biggest air cargo carrier, already has arrangements to operate seven 747-8 freighters.
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Korean Air (KAL) has placed an order for five [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] passenger aircraft.
The airline expects to receive the aircraft from 2013 to 2015, says an airline spokeswoman. She adds that all five are firm orders.
The carrier will operate the aircraft on long-haul routes to the Americas and Europe, she adds.
"The 747-8 Intercontinental fills the void between the 300 and 550-seat airplanes in our future fleet," says managing VP of KAL's passenger business division Won Tae Cho.
The airline already has seven 747-8 freighters on order and expects to get its first in the fourth quarter of 2011.
It also has orders for 10 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] A380s and 10 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 787s. The carrier will receive its first [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] at the end of next year, and will operate it on flights to Los Angeles, says the spokeswoman.
KAL's 747-8 passenger aircraft will have 467 seats, in a three-class configuration, and an 8,000nm range, says the airline.
It will also be quieter and more fuel-efficient, it adds.
"The 747-8 provides nearly equivalent trip costs and 13% lower seat-mile costs than the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], plus 26% greater cargo volume," says the airline.

An order by Korean Air for five [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Intercontinental snaps a nearly three year dry spell for the passenger-configured jumbo, and could signal the start of a slow climb for large airplane purchases in the coming years.
[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] last received an order for the 747-8 Intercontinental from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on 6 December 2006, when the company's latest iteration of the venerable 747 was first launched.
Korean's purchase of the 747-8I follows a similar trend by Lufthansa, who has also purchased the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and plans to use the 747 as a capacity gap filler between its 300 and 550-seat aircraft. Korean Air has also placed ten firm orders for the A380.
But even with today's order and recent purchases of A380 by airlines like [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for two, and a letter intent signed by Vietnam for four, the large aircraft market remains a niche for [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and Boeing because of potential market volatility, says one analyst.
"Operating large aircraft can be very dangerous when the market tanks," says vice president of analysis for the Teal Group, Richard Aboulafia. "But the Korean order shows that the 747-8I still will have part of this niche, despite some very aggressive A380 pricing."
Boeing's large aircraft segement has been dominated by orders from the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] configured with more than 365 seats, which has acted as a replacement to older 747s.
For example, carriers like Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] have replaced the four-engine jet with the twin-engine 777-300ER, opting to maintain the size of premium cabins, while reducing economy class seating.
Aboulafia adds that Boeing and Airbus widebody backlogs are dominated by future orders for their respective long-range high-capacity twin-engine jetliners.
"The big plane market has been all but obliterated by the huge popularity of the long-range mini-jumbos, especially the 777-300ER and A350 XWB," adds Aboulafia.
"As the saying goes, nobody ever went bankrupt flying planes that were too small. Very few carriers will replace 747-400s with equally large or larger planes. There's just too much to be said for getting rid of 20% of your lowest yield passengers and focusing on improving profits. You also get greater schedule and route flexibility with smaller long-range planes," says Aboulafia.
Boeing estimates 740 large passenger aircraft over the next twenty years, a forecast that was slashed by almost 25%, down from 980 large aircraft. Of those 740, Boeing believes just over 500 will be passenger aircraft.
"That means a handful of [747 v. A380] campaigns moving forward, all those campaigns are going to be tough. I like to say, lots of hand to hand combat," said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], before the Korean order was announced.
Tinseth conceded at the show that "it's a really tough market to be selling big airplanes."
Though he added that the 747-8 family has been "selling in total about where we expected, we've been very pleased with the strength of the freighter, we're dissapointed that we haven't sold more passenger airplanes."
Boeing holds orders for 110 747-8 aircraft, split between 78 freighters, 7 VIPs and 25 configured for airline use.
Tinseth believes that the large airplane market will rebound when the economy begins to improve.
"Ultimately we believe that market is going to pick up when airlines...this coming cycle...start to replace their older 747s."
A recent report by 7SEAS Aviation consultancy showed that one in ten 747-400s is now in storage, a number expected to grow as older aircraft are retired.
Boeing offers the 747-8I, a 5.6m stretch over the existing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], in VIP and airline configured variants. Entry into service is expected in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Boeing announced 3 December that it had passed the 90% design release mark on the new -8I aircraft

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has begun legal action against Korean Air (KAL) in Australia for alleged price fixing in the air cargo industry.
It alleges that between 2001 and 2006, KAL "entered into arrangements or understandings with other international air cargo carriers that had the purpose or effect of fixing the price of a fuel surcharge, a security surcharge and a customs fee that were applied to air cargo" carried by KAL and other airlines.

"The ACCC alleges that the arrangements or understandings were reached in Korea, Indonesia and Hong Kong for surcharges applied to cargo originating in those countries and in Indonesia for a customs fee applied to cargo originating in that country," says the commission.
A hearing has been set on 1 April in Sydney's Federal Court, it adds. The commission is seeking declarations, injunctive relief, pecuniary penalties and costs, it says.

KAL is the 12th carrier that the commission has taken legal action against for alleged price fixing.
Legal proceedings against Singapore Airlines Cargo, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Garuda Indonesia and Thai Airways International are ongoing, says the ACCC.
In previous cases, six airlines were ordered to pay A$41 million ($37 million) in penalties after they were taken to court by the ACCC.

DayAfter a écrit:GECAS.... !!?? Pour les GenX. Motorisation (jugée trop lourde de 400kg) unique, du 747-8

Korean Air studies regional jet order

Korean Air (KAL) is mulling over an order for regional jets in the next two years to operate on short-haul services to China and Japan.
"We are seriously considering buying single-aisle planes with 70-120 seats in one to two years," KAL chairman Cho Yang-Ho says in an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Asia edition. A spokesman from the SkyTeam alliance member confirms the comments.
"We would put these fuel-efficient planes on short-haul routes to China and Japan. We may inject the planes into routes operated by our budget carrier unit Jin Air as well," adds Cho.
Korean Air does not have any regional jets in its fleet, and Jin Air operates a fleet of five Boeing 737-800s.
The KAL spokesman says that it is "too early" to say how many regional jets the airline would order, or the make of aircraft that it would assess for its requirement.
Regional jet manufacturers Bombardier and Embraer would be keen to pitch their existing CRJ and E-Jet series of aircraft, if KAL goes ahead. Bombardier could also push its upcoming CSeries twinjet, although the 110-130 seat aircraft would be at the upper end of the scale.
Another option would be Japan's Mitsubishi Aircraft, which has been in South Korea in recent years promoting its MRJ regional jet. The first flight of the 90-seat MRJ90 is scheduled for the second quarter of 2012, with first delivery to launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA) in the first quarter of 2014. Mitsubishi is also developing a 70-80 seat MRJ70, and could launch a 100-seat variant as well.

Korean Air reported third-quarter net income of KRW583.8 billion ($521 million), more than double a KRW264 billion profit in the year-ago period, attributing the earnings increase to "substantial growth in international passenger traffic and surging demand for cargo traffic."
Quarterly revenue jumped 26.2% to KRW3.13 trillion, outpacing a 16.5% heightening of expenses to KRW2.77 trillion, producing a record operating profit of KRW358.1 billion, well more than three times operating income of KRW100.1 billion in the September 2009 quarter.
In a statement, the carrier cited “the better-than-expected economic rebound in China and Southeast Asia countries, as well as increased world travel during the summer vacation [season].
” During the quarter, Korea-outbound traffic rose 23% while “transit and overseas passenger volume” climbed 8%.
Third-quarter international passenger traffic rose 6.3% year-over-year to 15.43 billion RPKs on a 1.3% upping of capacity to 19.68 billion ASKs, producing a load factor of 78.4%, up 3.7 points. International passenger yield lifted 24% to KRW107.

Domestic passenger traffic increased 7.3% to 719 million RPKs on a 4.5% lowering of capacity to 1.07 billion ASKs, creating a load factor of 67%, up 7.3 points. Domestic passenger yield rose 8.1% to KRW198.5. Cargo traffic heightened 13.1% to 2.4 billion FTKs on a 15.6% lift in capacity to 3.22 billion ATKs, producing a load factor of 74.7%, down 1.7 points. Cargo yield jumped 28% to KRW360.1.
Cargo comprises 30.2% of KE's total revenue.
"The growth in cargo traffic has been maintained since the second half of 2009 as a result of increasing exports such as semiconductors and automobile parts," the airline noted, pointing out that "cargo demand in Japan increased and revenue generated from this region recorded a stunning year-on-year increase of 81%."