Asiana Airlines to Increase China Flights by 20% Starting Next Month

161 Weekly Flights on 18 Routes...Resuming Services to Chengdu and Chongqing

Asiana Airlines announced on the 11th that it will expand its China routes by 20% in line with the increasing number of travelers between Korea and China. Starting from March 29, the airline will add 28 weekly flights compared with the winter schedule on its China routes, operating a total of 18 routes with 161 flights per week.

Asiana Airlines A321NEO. Asiana Airlines

Asiana Airlines will resume the Incheon–Chengdu and Incheon–Chongqing routes, which were suspended during the winter season, and operate them daily from March 29. Chengdu and Chongqing are both popular destinations for Koreans, with Chengdu known as a panda base where visitors can meet Fubao, and Chongqing known as the home of mala cuisine.

On the Incheon–Chengdu route, the flight will depart from Incheon International Airport at 8:00 p.m. and arrive at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport at 11:00 p.m. local time. The return flight will depart Chengdu Airport at 12:10 a.m. local time and arrive at Incheon International Airport at 5:10 a.m.

On the Incheon–Chongqing route, the flight will depart from Incheon International Airport at 9:55 p.m. and arrive at Chongqing Airport at 1:00 a.m. local time the following day. The return flight will depart Chongqing Airport at 2:00 a.m. local time and arrive at Incheon International Airport at 6:25 a.m. An A321neo aircraft with 188 seats will be deployed on both routes.

Operations on major China routes will also increase. The Incheon–Beijing route will be increased from 17 to 20 flights per week. The Incheon–Dalian route will operate 10 flights per week, with a daily morning flight and three additional afternoon flights. The Incheon–Tianjin route, which previously operated three times a week, and the Incheon–Nanjing route, which operated six times a week, will both be increased to seven flights per week.

From May 6, the Incheon–Changchun route will be increased from seven to nine flights per week, and from May 8, the Incheon–Yanji route will be increased from seven to eight flights per week.

Asiana Airlines is also expanding its local sales activities in China. To spark a boom in Chinese tourism to Korea, the airline is strengthening various local marketing initiatives. On February 2, it launched a dedicated direct-sales channel for Asiana Airlines on the official website of Trip.com, China’s largest online travel agency. In November last year, during Singles' Day, China’s largest online shopping festival, the airline conducted a live commerce event in partnership with Feizhu, Alibaba Group’s online travel platform, attracting 500,000 visitors on the day and receiving an enthusiastic response.

Following the implementation of the visa-waiver policy between Korea and China, the number of Korean travelers visiting China last year reached 3.16 million, an increase of about 37% year-on-year, while the number of Chinese travelers visiting Korea rose 18.5% from the previous year to 5.79 million.

An Asiana Airlines official said, "We expect that, following the implementation of the visa-waiver policy between Korea and China, demand will increase in various areas, including tourism, as well as expanded economic and cultural cooperation," adding, "By increasing capacity on our routes, we plan to contribute to promoting friendship between the two countries."

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