Korean Air: Rescued by Cargo,
Rescuing Asiana — October 2022

The Covid-19 pandemic has turned out to be an existential crisis for many airlines round the world. But for Korean Air, the flag-carrier of South Korea, it seems to have generated interesting opportunities.

Korean’s revenues dipped by 40% in 2020, the first year of lock-downs and border closures, but it was able to report a small operating profit, and a reduction in net losses compared with the previous year. But in 2021, the second and full year of disruption, revenues grew (by 18%) and it achieved its highest ever level of operating profits of ₩1.4tn (US$1bn) reflecting a margin of nearly 16% on turnover of ₩9tn ($7.9bn).