Korean Air to hike int'l passenger fares in July

By Nam Kwang-sik

SEOUL, June 12 (Yonhap) -- Korean Air Lines Co. South Korea's top carrier, said Friday it will jack up its fares for international passenger flights in July to cushion rising costs and bolster tumbling earnings.

Korean Air will increase its passenger fares for routes to the United States by
10 percent and ones to Australia and New Zealand by 5 percent, the airline said.
The carrier also plans to raise its business and prestige class passenger fares
for routes to European countries excluding Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Czech
and Russia by 5 percent.
Korean Air was scheduled to increase the overseas passenger fares from June, but
the continued economic slump and the impact of a new flu outbreak had delayed its
fare hike plan, the company said.
The planned fare increase comes as the airline is struggling with ballooning
losses. It posted a net loss of 526.3 billion won (US$416 million) in
January-March period due to increased foreign exchange losses, compared with a
net loss of 326 billion won a year earlier.
The South Korean won dropped over 30 percent against the greenback in the first
quarter from a year ago.
The carrier recorded 2.26 trillion won in sales in the first quarter, unchanged
from the previous year, but operating profit fell 66 percent to 6.6 billion won.
Korean Air said in February that it is aiming for 10.3 trillion won in sales and
600 billion won in operating profit this year.