Korean Air posted its second straight quarterly net profit on Tuesday thanks to lower fuel costs and the strengthening won, and cautiously forecasted further recovery next year.
Airlines around the world have been hit by soft travel demand and low fares after the global financial crisis and more recent worries over the H1N1 flu pandemic, but are seeing a stabilising trend.
"Both passenger and cargo businesses showed improvement in October. Concerns over the H1N1 flu are expected to cool down after hitting a peak likely in November," said Lawrence Kim, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.
Korean Air, the world's biggest air cargo carrier, reported a net profit of KRW264 billion won (USD$228.7 million) for the third quarter.
The result improved sharply from a KRW684.1 billion net loss a year earlier and a KRW78.5 billion profit in the April-June quarter. It also swung to an operating profit of KRW100.1 billion, against losses a year earlier and in the previous quarter.
"As oil prices continue to stabilise and the won strengthens further, the airline expects to deliver better performance in the coming year," the company said in a statement.
It pays for fuel and aircraft leases in dollars. In the third quarter, fuel costs shrank 40 percent from a year earlier while an improvement in international passenger business also helped.
But its cargo business continued to suffer on falling global demand, although a slight recovery was observed on a month-to-month basis, Korean Air said.
*Reuters