Asiana losses deepen in second quarter after fatal crash
Carrier affected by fall in travel demand amid tensions in Korea and bird flu scare in China
Asiana Airlines, the South Korean carrier that suffered a fatal jet crash in San Francisco last month, reported a second-quarter loss bigger than analysts estimated as travel demand waned.
The net loss was 80.4 billion won (HK$562.8 million) in the three months to June, compared with the 49.9 billion won estimated by analysts. A year earlier, the airline had a loss of 37.7 billion won.
The crash in San Francisco will further dent Asiana's earnings in the third quarter as customers hesitate to fly its planes
Asiana said yesterday it carried fewer Japanese passengers because of tensions with North Korea while the bird flu scare cut China travel demand in the second quarter.
South Korea's second-biggest carrier might take a charge of at least 20 billion won from the crash of its Boeing 777, and that would push the company into a loss this year, five analysts said after the July 6 accident.
"The crash in San Francisco will further dent Asiana's earnings in the third quarter as customers hesitate to fly its planes," Park Eun-kyung, an analyst at Samsung Securities, said before the announcement.
Three people died while more than 300 survived in the crash.
Insurance would not cover the loss of the aircraft, litigation and other charges and an erosion in passengers following the crash, Cho Byoung-hee, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said last month.
