Asian airlines raise profits

Asian airlines raise profits

SINGAPORE (AFP): The 15-member Orient Airlines Association (OAA) yesterday reported a threefold annual jump in combined net profits to US$1.3 billion in fiscal year 1994-95.

The OAA, which will admit Asiana Airlines of South Korea as its 16th member at an annual assembly of presidents in Brunei on Saturday, said in a statement that total operating revenues of current members were up 16.2 percent to $45.12 billion.

The OAA, based in Manila, is a trade association of Asia- Pacific carriers. It said the addition of Asiana's 39 aircraft would bring the number of carriers in the group to 1,060.

OAA members carried a total of 164 million passengers in the 1994-95 fiscal year, up 6.7 percent, and 4.8 million tons in freight, an 11.8 percent improvement. They employed a total of 194,572 people.