Major Airlines Opening North America Routes "As a Proactive Response"

Korean Air Announces Resumption of Flights for Major Routes Including Washington in June

On the 2nd, aircraft are parked on the apron at Incheon International Airport. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] As the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) shows signs of slowing down in major countries including South Korea, national major airlines have begun to reopen their previously closed routes to the Americas.

According to the aviation industry on the 6th, Korean Air recently announced on its website in the 'June (1-30) Non-operation and Reduction Status' that it will resume flights on the Incheon-Washington, Seattle, Vancouver, and Toronto routes starting from the 1st of next month. If the schedule proceeds as planned, these routes will resume operations after a 50-day suspension.

In addition, Korean Air decided to increase the frequency of the Incheon-San Francisco and Chicago routes, which had been reduced to three times a week, to four times a week, and the Incheon-Atlanta route, which was operating four times a week, will be increased to five times a week.

Asiana Airlines also resumed flights on the Incheon-San Francisco route from the 1st of this month. This route had been suspended for 45 days during March and April after being ordered to halt operations by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport due to a landing accident at San Francisco Airport in 2013.

Although international passengers have decreased by more than 90% compared to the previous year, Asiana Airlines decided to reduce the frequency of this route from seven times a week to three times a week instead of suspending it. Asiana Airlines explained, "The Incheon-San Francisco route is fundamentally a route with solid demand," and added, "The June flight plan for all routes, including this one, is currently under review while monitoring market conditions."

The reason national airlines are preparing to expand their routes to the Americas is that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Korea has recently remained in single digits, showing a clear downward trend. Although it is difficult to expect a recovery in travel and tourism demand, they intend to take proactive measures as pent-up business demand or overseas Korean resident demand may begin to materialize.

In particular, routes to the Americas are the largest source of revenue for both Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. As of last year, the revenue share from the Americas region was 29% for Korean Air and 21% for Asiana Airlines.

However, it is still considered too early to expect a full-scale resumption of operations. Even if some flights resume next month, the number of flights will not reach the levels before the suspension in March. In fact, Korean Air’s major American routes such as Boston, Dallas, and Honolulu have no plans to resume operations in June. Furthermore, although the increase in COVID-19 cases in the United States is slowing down, there are still about 20,000 new daily cases and around 2,000 deaths occurring.

A Korean Air official stated, "Currently, there is no significant change in actual demand, but we intend to take proactive measures keeping in mind the possibility of the COVID-19 situation easing," and added, "Flight plans may change at any time depending on the resurgence of COVID-19 and market conditions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.