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Earnings blow as Asiana loyalists move to Korean

Park Sun Young, who’s flown with her family on Asiana Airlines between Seoul and New York twice in the past two years, is changing airline allegiances.

Days after an Asiana crash landing in San Francisco, Park said she’ll book future flights on Asiana’s main domestic competitor, Korean Air Lines.

“I am concerned about my children going on Asiana,” said Park, 41, a stay-at-home mom in Seoul. “I am switching to Korean Air when we go next month.”

Asiana’s reputation as one of the top carriers for service is in jeopardy after the airline’s second crash since 2011. Profit will be crimped by rising litigation and insurance costs, and Asiana’s training regimen will probably come under scrutiny as US investigators probe why pilots didn’t react to a critical loss of airspeed until moments before the plane crashed into a seawall.

“This is a major blow to Asiana’s status as one of the world’s best airlines,” said Kim Min Ji, an analyst at E.Trade Securities Korea in Seoul. “While the cause of the crash is still unknown, some passengers may decide against flying Asiana. Its earnings are going to be hit as well.”

Seoul-based Asiana is one of only seven carriers in the world with a five-star rating for services from Skytrax, which also named it airline of the year in 2010. Asiana, with its distinctive red, yellow and blue-painted tails of aircraft — the three colors used in a traditional Korean costume — now risks losing other customers.

Yang Kyunghee, 65, said she has a lot of miles accrued from her several flights on Asiana. “I don’t think I will be this loyal in the future,” she said. “I am now seriously considering stopping my flights with them in the future because of the accident.”

Still, Asiana has die-hard fans like Hong Sung Yoon, 55, who flies the airline to New York because it provides services like a free shuttle to New Jersey, home to a large Korean community. The shuttle service and in-flight entertainment like magic shows and tarot-card reading are a hit with customers.