South Korea's flag carrier Korean Air saw cargo traffic to Europe tumble after its second quarter because of falling export demand for IT products and the won's continuing weakness against the dollar, the Shipping Gazette reports.
"We expect the situation in 2012 to be worse," said senior vice-president Cho Won Tae following an unexpected drop in demand from Europe at this time of year.
Although it has benefited from international passenger volumes through the acquisition of four Airbus SAS A380 superjumbos in June, Korean Air's poor cargo results were compounded by rising fuel prices which caused a drop of 33 per cent in Seoul trading.
The double-decker planes have been "very profitable", Mr Cho told Bloomberg. The introduction is part of a wide strategy to increase passenger revenue to 50 per cent from premium passengers by 2019, over double what it gained in this area in 2009.
The carrier is considering new long-haul destinations including Johannesburg or Nairobi by 2014 and South America, Mr Cho added.