[Courtesy of Korean Air]
Korean Air saw a remarkable improvement in corporate earnings, posting a record operating profits in the third quarter of this year, after it severed ties with its troubled sister firm, Hanjin Shipping.
The flag carrier posted a third-quarter net profit of 428 billion won (378 million US dollars), compared with a loss of 510 billion won a year earlier. In the July-September period, sales rose 4.7 percent on year to 3.05 trillion won while operating profit jumped 34.9 percent to a record high of 448 billion won.
The company attributed its gains to increased passengers, a decline in fuel costs, and a weak won. As a result, Korean Air's debt ratio fell to 917 percent at the end of September from 1,109 percent at the end of June.
The airline said a loss of 825 billion won linked to Hanjin Shipping has already been reflected on its balance sheet. The shipper is now under third-party management after it filed for court receivership on August 31.
Korean Air's financial woes had been aggravated by a continued injection of liquidity into the shipping unit. From now, Korean Air said it would not provide any fresh assistance to Hanjin Shipping to improve its financial structure.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
