Korean Airline survives against COVID19

Current situation of South Korean airlines

How Korean Air were able to maintain their sales

[해외특파원 1기 / 김한결 기자] Those who have lost their jobs are holding out for the end of the pandemic such as taxi drivers and restaurant workers. Among them, pilots, flight attendants, and airline workers have also lost jobs due to the lack of demand for air travel especially due to the COVID19 pandemic. The airline’s sales must be kept to a minimum to sustain its current staff. However with the spread of COVID19, every airline around the world is facing tough times. Asiana Airlines for example, failed to produce enough sales – comparing 2018 and 2019, 40% of their sales dropped until 2020. Therefore, eventually Korean Air decided to purchase the entire company. Another example is Eastar Jet, widely known as an affordable, domestic airline. Before COVID19 spread throughout the world, Jeju Airline announced that they were planning on taking over Eastar Jet on December 18^th, 2019. Nevertheless, as the pandemic worsened, Jeju Air was forced to cancel the contract. Hence, Eastar Jet had no choice but to maintain their sales hoping COVID19 would get better. But after a few years, Eastar Jet was no longer listed as one of Korean airlines.

Currently, the only domestic airline that can withstand well is Korean Air. These days, Korean Air managed to maintain their sales by loading and carrying cargo at the front part of the airplane seat due to a decrease in the number of passengers, however, as the pandemic did not improve, Korean Air decided to tear off all the seats on their planes and load more goods. But as Korean Air continued to load goods, people started to wonder how long they would last by simply loading cargo. But after people recognised their sales, it can be said that cargo loading saved the airline. According to reliable statistics, $600 billion was made in 2018, and in 2020 Korean Air doubled their sales to $1.22 trillion. Currently, examining the statistics, there is no reason for Korean Air to stop loading cargo. If they continue this way until COVID19 subsides, they could be labelled as the airline that represents South Korea.