Korean Air to expand its route structure to China

Korean Air has announced a plan to further expand its route structure to China. The airline is adding Xian as a new destination, and Cheongju~Shanghai and Busan~Xian as new routes.

With these additions, Korean Air will be operating 17 routes to 12 destinations and a total of 75 weekly flights to China, positioning it as one of the most active airlines in the important Chinese market.

Cheongju ~ Shanghai

Three weekly flights (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) between Cheongju and Shanghai will start operating Jan. 11, 2003. Departure time for Tuesdays from Cheongju is 2:50 p.m., arriving in Shanghai at 4 p.m. (local time), while departures for Thursdays and Saturdays are scheduled for 2:45 p.m. arriving  at 3:55 p.m. (local time). Tuesday and Thursday departures from Shanghai are at 5 p.m. arriving Cheongju at 7:50 p.m. Saturday departures from Shanghai are at 4:55 p.m. arriving at 7:45 p.m. An F100 with a seat capacity of 109 will be used on the flights and the estimated total flight time is approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Busan ~ Xian

For the new Busan~Xian route, a total of two weekly flights (Monday and Thursday) are scheduled to operate effective from Jan. 9, 2003. Flights from Busan will depart at 9:30 a.m. and arrive in Xian at 12:05 p.m. while flights departing from Xian will leave at 1:15 p.m. and arrive at Busan Int’l Airport at 5:10 p.m. The aircraft on this route is a Boeing 737-800 with a seat capacity of 161.

Shanghai is widely considered to be the center of trading and banking in Asia. Xian, on the other hand, has played a very important role in cultural exchanges between those of the East and West, with its unique location at the crossroads of two cultures.

These new routes between S. Korea and China has come just in time to meet the increased demand for travel between the two countries. In 2002, Korean Air increased its seat supply by 32 percent, in comparison with 2001, in order to meet the soaring demand. In response, the number of passengers who had traveled between S. Korea and China on Korean Air increased by 34 percent over 2001. This expansion is expected to generate further schedule conveniences for passengers and give an impetus to increased travel between S. Korea and China.

Korean Air, with a fleet of 120 aircraft, is one of the world’s top 20 airlines and operates almost 400 passenger flights per day to 81 cities in 28 countries. Korean Air is a founding member of SkyTeam, the global alliance – partnering AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines and Delta Air Lines.