South Korea's No. 1 air carrier Korean Air Lines Co. saw its local brand value nosedive this year following last year's "nut rage" case that outraged the nation's public, a survey showed Tuesday.

Brandstock, a South Korean market researcher that determines rankings of the top 100 local brands, said in its latest survey that Korean Air earned 860 points to stand at 45th place for the first quarter of this year, down from the No. 6 spot for all of 2014.

"Even while taking into consideration the kind of bitter issue that Korean Air was mired in, the drop in brand value was unprecedentedly large," Brandstock said in its survey.

"The market is changing even more quickly and so brand value has become more susceptible to various issues."

In early December, the airline's former vice president incurred public outrage after she ordered an Incheon-bound flight taxiing at Kennedy International Airport to head back to its gate to have a senior crew member disembarked on account of some macadamia nuts that were not served to her liking.

The country's No. 2 air carrier Asiana Airlines Inc., in contrast, jumped up three spots to stand at 19th place, outshining its local rival.

Tech behemoth Samsung Electronics Co.'s smartphone brand Galaxy topped the list as the country's most valuable brand with 936.4 points for the January-March period, according to the survey.

Galaxy has retained the top spot for the past four years.

Discount store chain E-Mart trailed the list with 922.3 points, while Lotte Department Store and Incheon International Airport followed suit with 905.4 points and 901.8 points, respectively, the survey showed. (Yonhap)