Asiana Airlines Deploys A380... Eases Overseas Travel Seat Shortage

Priority Deployment on LA-Bangkok Route

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Asiana Airlines announced on the 15th that it will deploy the superjumbo aircraft A380 to respond to the increased demand following the full-scale resumption of overseas travel.

First, two A380s will be prioritized for deployment on the routes with the highest demand among the Americas routes, the city of LA, which has the most tourists, Korean residents, and international students, and Bangkok, a popular Southeast Asian tourist city. ▲The Incheon-Bangkok route will operate the A380 seven times a week from the 25th of this month to October 29th, and ▲the Incheon-LA route will operate the A380 three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday) from the 23rd of next month to October 29th.

These routes have seen a rapid increase in passengers since the lifting of COVID-19 entry restrictions, with continuous requests for increased supply. The load factor for both routes reached about 90% in May, and the LA route had such high demand that it operated twice daily.

With the deployment of the A380 on these two high-demand routes, the seat shortage on these routes is expected to ease somewhat. Compared to the previously operated A330 (298 seats) on the Bangkok route, 197 additional seats will be added, and on the LA route, 184 more seats will be added compared to the existing A350 (311 seats), resulting in an increase of 1,379 seats weekly for Bangkok and 552 seats for LA.

The A380, known as the "hotel in the sky," is a top-class aircraft capable of carrying the largest number of passengers among existing aircraft. Asiana Airlines operates the A380 with a total of 495 seats, including 78 business class seats.

An Asiana Airlines official said, "As overseas travel demand, which was suppressed due to COVID-19, is explosively increasing, there was a seat shortage on popular routes," adding, "We hope that operating the A380 with top-class facilities will improve customer experience and, along with the increased seat supply, somewhat enhance customer booking convenience."

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