Korean Air, Chairman & CEO, Walter Cho at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Asia 2026
Korean Air, Chairman & CEO, Walter Cho spoke to CAPA TV at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Asia 2026, hosted in Hokkaido, Japan, about the latest industry trends and company developments.
CAPA Events are hosted in key markets around the world and attract the highest calibre of thought leaders and decision makers in the aviation and travel industry. Delegates are provided with unprecedented access to the latest data, insights and trends from our global team, in addition to valuable networking opportunities with executives across all sectors of the aviation and travel industry. Review CAPA's full events calendar here.
Transcript
Walter Cho:Driven by the high fuel oil prices, the total group fuel bill this year is projected to exceed budget by more than 50%. But however, we operationally, we actively mitigated fuel burns through strategic fuel reserves, proactively trimming capacity, on underperforming and off-peak flights, fuel tankering, and calculating optimal flight routes. The biggest change will be changes in the flight numbers. Everything OZ will change to KE, and all our services inside the flight, in-flight, will be commonized through Korean Air Services. And in a more broader scope, we'll still see a better schedule, a more diverse schedule, and a more diverse network as well. The larger scale in the operation will bring more efficiency to the company and also for the customers. We will grow our network by over 50% with the merger, and we'll provide better customer service and better frequency and schedule for them as well. Thank you.
Copyright policy: All transcripts on this site are the copyright of CAPA - Centre for Aviation. Our reproduction policy is as follows: you may quote up to 400 words of any transcript on the condition that you attribute the transcript to CAPA - Centre for Aviation and link to the original video page. All other use is prohibited. While we aim for 100% accuracy in the transcript, there may be some minor transcribing errors.