Fresh credit extended to struggling Asiana Airlines

Asiana Airlines, Korea’s second biggest airline, on Tuesday increased the limit on its credit line with two state lenders by 300 billion won ($245 million) to refinance maturing debts and secure operating capital.

Asiana already took loans worth a combined 800 billion won from the two - the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea.

Asiana’s new credit comprises 215.2 billion won from the KDB and 84.8 billion won from the Export-Import Bank, bringing its overall credit line to 1.1 trillion won, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Asiana is widely expected to suffer an earnings shock in the first quarter, as it has suspended most flights on international routes as an increasing number of countries close their borders or impose new entry restrictions

In its self-rescue measures unveiled last month, Asiana said it will make all of its 10,500 employees take unpaid leave for 15 days in April. Executives will return 60 percent of their wages.

Asiana entered an emergency management system in February and executives returned up to 40 percent of their salaries. In March, Asiana Chief Executive Han Chang-soo did not receive a penny, and other executives returned 50 percent of their wages.

For the whole of 2019, Asiana’s net losses widened to 672.6 billion won from 96.2 billion won a year earlier, due mainly to a sharp decline in travel on Japanese routes. Asiana’s operating losses widened to 368.2 billion won in 2019 from 35 billion in 2018.

Yonhap