South Korea's main flag carrier Korean Air Co apologized yesterday after admitting fixing prices on international passenger and cargo flights and agreeing to pay US$300 million in fines in the US.
"Korean Air apologizes to shareholders and customers for causing the trouble," said Ahn Yong-seok, a company lawyer.
Ahn confirmed the plea agreement on the charges, resulting from the US Justice Department's antitrust investigation of the air transport industry since early last year, but played down its business impact.
"The impact that the case will have on Korean Air's business and other operations will not be serious," Ahn said.
He said the airline's compliance officer will strengthen education and campaigns so it abides by US and global fair trade rules in future.
"On this occasion, Korean Air will make further efforts to become a respected leader in the airline industry," he said.
Under the plea accord, which is subject to US federal court approval, Korean Air has agreed to fully cooperate with the industry-wide antitrust investigations that are still ongoing.
The Justice Department charged Korean Air with colluding with its competitors to increase the fuel surcharge from US$0.10 to as high as US$0.60 for each kilogram of cargo shipped from the US.
It also charged Korean Air with agreeing with its rival to fix certain passenger fares for flights from the US to South Korea.
Meanwhile, Korean Air yesterday reported a net loss for the second quarter after the huge fine for price-fixing.
"The US$300 million fine by the Department of Justice ate into the second quarter results," said Lee Ji-hye, a company spokesman.
Korean Air, the world's largest cargo carrier by freight volume, posted a net loss of 214.4 billion won (US$232 million) in the April to June quarter, swinging from a net profit of 14.9 billion won a year earlier.
Operating profit for the quarter rose 9.3 percent to 75.4 billion won from 69 billion won a year ago, and sales climbed 8 percent to 2.12 trillion won from 1.94 trillion won.
"Increasing overseas travel demand, which buoyed the second quarter results, will continue to support the bottom line throughout the year," Lee said.
The company posted a net loss of 83.6 billion won for the first half of the year, shifting from a profit of 142.2 billion won.
Operating profit for the six months rose 42 percent to 226.8 billion won from 160.1 billion won a year ago. First half sales rose 9.8 percent to 4.14 trillion won from 3.77 trillion won.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS