Korean Air Lines provided some rare positive news for the devastated global aviation industry Thursday, reporting a quarterly profit after flying planes loaded with products from South Korean technology giants to homebound consumers around the world. The carrier’s operating profit was 148.5b won ($125m) for the April-June period. Cargo sales climbed 95% from a year earlier to 1.23t won. Asiana could follow suit with an operating profit of 43.7b won when it reports next week, according to the average estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg. The profit comes as other airlines are reporting record losses; slashing routes, jobs and salaries; or collapsing altogether because of the impact Covid-19 has had on travel. The crisis has forced some carriers to retrofit their planes to haul more cargo and generate much-needed cash from surging airfreight rates. “The cargo business has come to the rescue yet again when things are going bad,” said Um Kyung-a, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities. “Countries will be in need of goods to restart their economies as many emerge from shutdowns due to the outbreak.”<br/>
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Delta plans to use clean cabins to boost customer satisfaction and attract a larger portion of people who still fly, aiming to reduce the cash it burns daily to zero by year-end. The airline will work for a Net Promoter Score of at least 65 in H2, 15 points above Delta’s average performance last year, CEO Ed Bastian wrote Thursday in a memo to employees. ”We hear from customers every day, telling us that they are switching their loyalty to Delta because of the safety practices we have in place, and the care we take to ensure cleanliness and comfort,” he said. Net Promoter is a program to measure customer experience and satisfaction that is widely used by airlines, hotels and others. Delta’s score was 70 in July, Bastian said. “Achieving this level of customer satisfaction will help bring in the additional revenue we need to reduce our cash burn,” Bastian wrote. “It also will build additional loyalty and affinity for our brand, which will power our growth when demand begins to come back.”<br/>
Mexican airline Aeromexico said on Thursday that July passenger traffic was down 73% to about 513,000 flyers, compared with the same month last year, as coronavirus lockdowns kept tourism and business travel depressed. The company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in late June, added in a statement that passenger traffic on its international routes was down nearly 90% while sliding 62% for domestic ones. Despite the falling demand, Aeromexico said it plans in August to increase routes from its Mexico City hub to six domestic destinations, including top beach resort Cancun, as well as several international routes, including Paris, Sao Paulo and three cities in the US. <br/>