Korean Air, hit by weak yen, goes into red after five years

For the first time in five years, Korean Air reported an operating loss.

The airline blamed a struggling international economy, competition from budget carriers and the weakened Japanese yen, which sharply reduced earnings from its flights in and out of Japan. The airline said in 2013 that its operating loss amounted to 17.6 billion won. This was a turnaround from an operating profit of 228.6 billion won in 2012. Revenue fell 4 percent year-on-year to 11.9 trillion won.

Revenue in the fourth quarter was almost the same as a year earlier. It shrunk 0.3 percent compared to the last three months of 2012 to nearly 3 trillion won. In the fourth quarter, the airline posted an operating profit of 19.8 billion won. The total number of passenger in the last three months shrunk 0.8 percent, while cargo volume was 1.5 percent less.