Asiana Strengthens Competitiveness in Attracting Transit Passengers... Approximately 10,000 Achieved in Two Months

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Asiana Airlines is expanding its efforts to attract transit passengers as a solution to overcome the stagnation in domestic demand.

Asiana Airlines announced on the 1st that from July to September, it attracted about 10,000 passengers on the China-origin Incheon transit route to the Americas (China→Korea→USA), achieving the highest transit performance since the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due to the easing of measures for Chinese international students after 18 months since the US government imposed entry restrictions on passengers departing from China in February last year.

In response to this demand, Asiana Airlines expanded transit passenger attraction through proactive measures such as increasing connecting flights to the Americas, flexible aircraft scheduling, improving transit processes, and collaborating with other airlines. Currently, due to the Chinese government's restrictions on Korea-China routes, Asiana Airlines operates once a week from four cities: Changchun, Harbin, Nanjing, and Chengdu.

In particular, Asiana Airlines strengthened transit infrastructure such as selling transit tickets, connecting check-in, and baggage transfer through collaboration with some Chinese airlines and domestic low-cost carriers (LCCs) that previously did not allow international transit. In addition to regular flights to New York, Los Angeles (LA), San Francisco, and Seattle, Asiana Airlines is planning charter flights to Chicago, making every effort to transport transit passengers from China to the Americas.

Following the transit demand to the Americas, Asiana Airlines is also preparing to attract Chinese international students returning to schools in Europe. The company plans to increase its competitiveness by attracting transit demand through various routes such as China-origin flights to Australia and Southeast Asia-origin flights to the Americas. Im Seon-jin, Executive Director of Passenger Strategy at Asiana Airlines, said, "In a situation where passenger demand recovery is slow due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, we are increasing transit passenger attraction through detailed demand analysis."

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