Korean Air to begin Incheon - Beijing Freighter Operation

Korean Air is to begin the operation of its newest freighter route between Incheon and Beijing in late September this year, increasing the number of its freighter routes to China to four. Korean Air and Air China reached a commercial agreement on August 8 in Beijing to open the regular freighter operation between the two cities.

With the opening of the freighter route to the capital city of China, Korean Air expects to strengthen its position in the ever-growing Chinese market. Korean Air currently operates freighter flights on the routes of Incheon~Shanghai, Incheon-HongKong, and Incheon ~Tianjin.

"China is a very important market for us and Korean Air has placed a top priority on the China market which has one of the best growth potentials.", said Y. H. Cho, Chairman and CEO of Korean Air. "We will continue to make great efforts to strengthen our market presence there and we plan to establish China as one of our most important logistics bases overseas.", he added.

Despite the impact of SARS, airfreight market in China has shown constant average annual growth of 20 percent during the recent years and the country's domestic air transportation also has been increasing 27% every year, which makes the country one of the world's greatest growing markets.

Korean Air's cargo operation spans the world carrying freight to 31 destinations in 20 countries on seven continents. Korean Air has a fleet of 119 aircraft including 20 freighters.