Heading toward Global
Leading Carrier
KAL Chairman Cho stresses a boost in Int'l competitive edge
As part of its efforts to build a foundation for becoming a global leading carrier, Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho said, KAL will put more energy into raising its international competitive edge by making its organization flexible to proactively cope with external environment changes and dramatically improving services to customers.
In his New Year's message, KAL Chairman Cho urged the executives and staff of the national flag carrier to not only maintain a growth based on aggressive investments and an expansion of business arena but also maximize profits. To this end, he appealed for them to invigorate the ongoing "10-10-10 Campaign,"calling for reducing costs by 10 percent and raising sales and profitability by 10 percent, respectively.
The KAL chairman said KAL will be aggressively engaged in overseas market and flight route exploration in order to help Korea advance to foreign countries and go global with the goal of developing the nation into a Northeast Asian logistics hub.
Cho noted that last year was a stellar year for KAL making preparations for a new take-off as KAL established the No. 1 global cargo carrier and the national flag carrier made its new resolve to offer world-class services to customers by introducing its new uniforms with traditional Korean beauty and sophisticated global design patterns.
KAL is intent on introducing next-generation aircraft like Airbus 380s and Boeing 787s, while the airline has replaced seats and other things in the cabin with comfortable and sophisticated ones. KAL has begun to upgrade entertainment systems, he added.
Even though such lingering uncertainties like oil price hikes will pose difficulties during the year 2006, he said, KAL will exert itself to evolving into a world-class company contributing to the national economy by tiding over endless changes and strengthening its constitution.
According to the 2006 business plan, KAL aims to post 560 billion won in operating profit and 180 billion in ordinary profits on sales worth 8.3 trillion won, up from 7.8 trillion won in 2005. The business plan was projected on the assumption that West Texas Intermediate prices would fetch $68, up from a range of $50 to $60 in 2005 and the foreign exchange rate would stand at 1,050 won per dollar instead of the range of 1,000 to 1,100 won.
KAL plans to spend 880 billion won in 2006 with the introduction of new aircraft and other investments. The Korean national flag carrier will buy two cargo carriers Boeing 747-400ERF and one passenger aircraft Boeing 777-200ER. nw

Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho