Korean Air, South Korea‘s largest flag carrier said Thursday its operating profits surged 58.6 percent last year from the previous year, due to cheap oil prices and the strong U.S. dollar.

The air carrier said it has reaped operating profits of 626.5 billion won (518.1 million), with annual sales of 11.54 trillion won, a 3.1 percent drop from the year 2014. Its net losses, however, increased to 703 billion won from 456.8 billion won reported the previous year. 


The nation’s flag carrier turned to the black in the final quarter of last year, with net profits of 92.1 billion won, from a loss of 271.9 billion reported in the same period in 2014. Its operating profits during the October-December period, however, fell 2 percent on-year to 149.8 billion won with its sales dropping 1.2 percent to 2.92 trillion won.

Its operating profit was able to improve in the fourth quarter last year largely because of the strong U.S. dollar against the Korean won, as well as reduction in overall costs including cheaper oil prices.

Korean Air hopes to post 12.03 trillion won in sales this year, up 6 percent from last year with a 28 percent increase of its operating profits to 770 billion won.

According to the International Air Transport Association, demand for passenger flights is expected to grow 6.9 percent from a year ago, as well as a 3 percent increase in cargo demand.
 
By Cho Chung-un
(christory@heraldcorp.com)