This image provided by Asiana Airlines shows the company’s A321NEO passenger jet.
SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea’s second-biggest carrier, said Friday it shifted to a net loss in the second quarter from a year earlier on increased foreign-exchange losses.
Asiana swung to a net loss of 212.92 billion won (US$163 million) on a consolidated basis in the three months ended in June, compared with a net profit of 60.84 billion won during the same period of last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.
“The won’s weakness against the dollar pushed up jet fuel purchasing costs and the dollar-denominated debt for leased planes (when converted into the local currency). It cut into the quarterly bottom line,” a company spokesperson said.
The dollar rose to an average of 1,259.57 won in the second quarter from 1,121.23 won a year ago, according to the Bank of Korea.
Operating profit more than doubled to 139.49 billion won from 55.89 billion won a year ago, helped by increased cargo deals. Sales also jumped 57 percent to 1.549 trillion won from 985 billion won during the cited period.
Sales from the cargo business rose 16 percent on-year to 818.3 billion won in the second quarter.
From January to June, Asiana’s net losses slightly narrowed to 259.47 billion won from 286.04 billion won a year ago amid the extended COVID-19 pandemic.
Asiana shifted to an operating profit of 283.02 billion won in the first six months from an operating loss of 31.36 billion won during the mentioned period of last year.
Sales fell 15 percent to 1.549 trillion won in the first half from 1.828 trillion won a year ago.
(Yonhap)
