Korean Air (Seoul) has submitted a proposal to acquire 44 percent of the shares of unprofitable Czech Airlines-CSA (Prague) according to this report by the Wall Street Journal. Reportedly Korean was the only bidder for this minority share. The airline is currently owned by the Czech Ministry of Finance (56.92%), Czech Consolidation Agency (34.59%) and other Czech institutions.

Previously in December 2012, Czech Airlines announced it would acquire the Airbus A330 starting in June 2013, enabling the flag carrier to launch new scheduled service to Seoul, South Korea, and to initiate more intensive code-share cooperation with Korean Air in operating long-haul flights from Prague via Seoul to Asia.

Korean Air wants a larger presence in Europe and, if successful, would not interfere with Czech management of the company.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

On the financial side, KAL issued this statement:

Korean Air, South Korea’s flagship airline, has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2012.

Due to weak economic recovery and high fuel prices, Korean Air posted an operating income of 3,083.5 billion KRW for the fourth quarter of 2012, and an operating loss of 17.6 billion KRW. International passenger and cargo business remained the major revenue contributors for the airline in Q4, accounting for 56.4% and 26.5% of the operating revenue respectively. Compared to the same period last year net income for Q4 increased by 215.1% to 140.3 billion KRW.

For the full year of 2012, the airline recorded an operating income of 12,728 billion KRW, up 3.7% year-on-year, and an operating profit of 322.4 billion KRW. The net income for 2012 returned to the black and reached 256.4 billion KRW.

Copyright Photo: Jacek Fiszer. Czech Airlines has retired its Boeing fleet and now operates an Airbus and ATR fleet only. Airbus A319-112 OK-PET (msn 4258) approaches Warsaw.

Czech Airlines-CSA: 

Korean Air: