Hana Securities said on the 8th that Korean Air Lines(003490) is recording the No. 1 air cargo volume among Asian airlines. It maintained a "Buy" investment opinion and a target price of 41,000 won. Korean Air Lines' previous day's closing price was 30,350 won.
Hana Securities said Korean Air Lines is recording the No. 1 cargo volume among Asian airlines. If you add Asiana Airlines' belly cargo to this, it is expected to become the unrivaled No. 1 air cargo carrier in Asia.
In particular, Hana Securities analyzed that for air cargo rates departing from Korea, an increase in exports of air cargo bound for Korea has a more positive impact than transshipment volumes.
In the first half of this year, air cargo exports departing Korea for the United States increased 27% from a year earlier, with demand rising in many areas.
An Do-hyeon of Hana Securities said, "While IT, auto parts and fresh food are all growing, exports of semiconductor equipment have surged in particular, and cosmetics cargo volumes are also growing rapidly," adding, "On Asia–Americas routes, Incheon is inevitably an air cargo hub due to geographical characteristics, and the shortage of widebody aircraft is overlapping, so fronthaul rates will inevitably remain high for the time being."
Accordingly, it projected that the outperformance of rates for air cargo departing from Korea will continue.
An said, "In a macroeconomic environment where oil prices are hard to predict, the time gap between airline ticket sales issued one to three months in advance and expense is larger than ever," adding, "By contrast, for air cargo, the gap between booking and revenue is short, and additional fuel surcharges can be imposed even on long-term contracts, which is playing a significant role in bolstering earnings stability."
It also said Korean Air Lines is ultimately expected to aim to increase passenger unit revenue through premiumization, and since outbound growth rate is limited, premiumization is an essential direction.
An said, "Before the passenger premiumization strategy, we expect air cargo to lead profits in 2026–2027, and from 2028, additional upside is expected from premiumization, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and aerospace and defense."