Korean Air to gain ₩557.8B for selling property to improve financial status

Korean Air, the country's national air carrier, revealed last week that it would be getting ₩557.8 billion or around $470 million through the sale of a property. The selling is said to be part of the company's efforts to boost its financial status in the midst of the extended COVID-19 pandemic.

As per Yonhap News Agency, Korean Air is set to sign an agreement to sell land and a building located at Songhyeon-dong, Seoul. The air carrier stated in the regulatory filing that the property will be sold to the Korea Land and Housing Corp., the country's public housing developer.

It was reported that the Korea Lang and Housing will not be using the land but it will be exchanging the site with real estate of the Seoul Medical Center that is owned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The sale of the property is expected to help alleviate Korean Air's financial standing since it was badly hit by the pandemic.

Korean Air has been selling off some of its assets since February of last year. In that month, it announced its plans to unload its idle property in Seoul including non-core assets due to increasing uncertainties brought about by COVID-19. The airline industry generally suffered since people can no longer travel as they wish and as needed for businesses.

In any case, it was mentioned that Korean Air bought the Songhyeon-dong property that it is now selling from Samsung Life Insurance in 2009. Originally, the plan for the site was to build a cultural complex but various barriers arose such as building restrictions so the plan never materialized.

Meanwhile, the airline recently teamed up with the country's defense technology institute to create and develop a stealth drone hull structure. They have joined forces and will be cooperating for the research and development of unmanned aerial drones. This technology is said to be related to stealth military drones.

Aju Business Daily reported that Korean Air revealed on Dec. 22 that it has signed a partnership deal with the Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement (KRIT). They will be jointly developing structural technologies for stealth drones by 2025.

"For the last 10 years, we have worked very hard in various sectors such as the designing and manufacturing of UAVs, flight testing, and upgrading stealth capabilities," Korean Air stated.