Korean Air, South Korea’s largest air carrier, said Monday it swung to a net loss in the third quarter as the strong local currency increased the amount of dollar-denominated debt and interest rate payments.

The net loss reached 392 billion won ($361.3 million) in the July-September period, compared with a net profit of 335.4 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company’s operating profit rose by 50.3 percent year-on-year to 240.7 billion won on falling fuel costs, while its sales edged down 0.6 percent to 3.16 trillion won, it said.

The air carrier said it will be adjusting route operations depending on demands in different markets in the fourth quarter, with more resources being poured into the soaring Southeast Asian region.

Air freight business is expected to continue the recent sales momentum, based on robust exports of locally-produced mobile devices and semiconductors.

(From news reports)