Korean Air Cargo Demand, Pricing Soar

Korean Air’s cargo revenue jumped 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 demand and pricing increased dramatically at the end of
the year, the airline said in its annual report.

The airline, the world’s largest international air freight carrier, said traffic grew 15.2 percent in the last three months of the year over the same
period a year earlier, including a 25.2 percent jump in December.

Korean Air's strong turnaround came after traffic fell 13 percent in the first nine months of the year, and follows reports from other carriers and
airports of a strong rebound in air freight business, led by exports out of Asia.

The airline said its cargo yield, roughly equivalent to pricing, expanded 13.4 percent to its highest point of the year.

The year-over-year figures come against comparisons to the depths of the global trade downturn, but Korean’s results also suggest a recovery in
demand that has been gathering force even as the airline has reined in capacity.

Korean’s fourth quarter freight traffic was 13.3 percent better than the carrier reported in the third quarter, and its cargo yield soared 35 percent from the third quarter to the fourth.

Cargo revenue of $834 million in the last three months of the year was also 42 percent better than Korean counted in the third quarter.