Asiana Airlines posted its first operating profit in six quarters during the second quarter, thanks to its efforts to offset a plunge in travel demand amid the COVID-19 crisis by boosting its cargo-handling volume. 

The nation’s second-largest airliner said on Friday that it swung to an operating profit of 115-point-one billion won in the April to June period from an operating loss of 107-point-03 billion won in the same quarter last year. 

Sales plummeted 44-point-seven percent on year to 818-point-six billion won, but net profit also shifted to a surplus of 116-point-two billion won from a net loss of 183-point-14 billion won. 

Belly cargo services, which utilize passenger planes for cargo delivery, contributed to earnings by boosting cargo-related sales by 95 percent, as did a reduction in operating costs, including labor costs and fuel costs, which fell by 56 percent on year. 

It remains to be seen whether and how the surprise earnings will affect protracted negotiations surrounding HDC Hyundai Development’s bid to take over Asiana. On Thursday, HDC repeated its demand for a new due diligence on the cash-strapped airliner after Asiana's main creditor Korea Development Bank rejected its previous request.