Korean Air is actively restoring its international passenger network, which has been suspended due to the pandemic.
As of June 8, the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport lifted all international flight restrictions and mandatory quarantine requirements. Korean Air will accordingly resume more international flights than previously planned.
The airline will increase the flight frequencies on major international routes and resume flight operations to popular travel destinations in line with the recovery of passenger demand. To support increased operations, grounded aircraft will be taken out of storage and passenger aircraft converted into freighters will be reconfigured.
In addition, Korean Air will not only restore inflight services to pre-COVID levels but will also begin new services. The airline is also putting measures in place to prepare its personnel, such as training for returning workforce and recruiting new employees.
Increasing flight frequencies and resuming routes from July, to restore 50% of pre-pandemic international passenger capacity by September
Korean Air is increasing its international passenger capacity to prepare for the peak travel season in July and August. Passenger capacity in June is still one-third of pre-COVID levels.
The airline plans to restore passenger capacity (available seat kilometres) to 50% of pre-pandemic levels by September, three months earlier than previously planned.
As for the Americas routes, the airline is currently operating 14 flights a week (twice daily) on the Incheon-Los Angeles route and plans to increase the frequency on its Incheon-New York route from seven to 12 flights a week in July and 14 (two daily) in August. In July, flight frequencies will also increase from five to seven times a week on Incheon-Washington D.C and Incheon-Honolulu routes, and from six to seven times on the Incheon-Vancouver route, joining routes to Atlanta and San Francisco where daily flights are in operation. Weekly frequencies on the Boston and Dallas routes will also increase from three to four times a week, and from four to five times on the Chicago route. The Las Vegas route will be restored in July with services offered three times a week. In August, the number of weekly flights on the Incheon-Seattle route will increase from four to five.
Weekly flight frequencies on Europe routes will also increase in July: five to seven times on the Incheon-Paris route, and three to five times on the Incheon-Frankfurt and Incheon-Amsterdam routes. Routes to Milan and Vienna, which have been suspended since March 2020, will resume in July with a three times a week service, and routes to Barcelona and Rome will also resume operations three times a week from September.
Flights in the Southeast Asia region are also quickly being restored. From July, frequencies on routes to Bangkok, Singapore, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City will increase to 14 flights a week (twice daily), and to seven weekly flights on routes to Hanoi and Jakarta. Da Nang and Bali routes will also resume daily operations from July.
As for Japan, the airline will resume the Sapporo route in July starting with flights twice a week and then increasing to daily flights in August. Services to Okinawa will also resume in August with three weekly flights. International routes out of Gimpo will resume starting with two weekly flights on the Gimpo-Haneda route from June 29, and will gradually expand to Osaka depending on demand.
In July, flights on the Incheon-Hong Kong route will increase from four to seven times a week; from three to four weekly flights on the Incheon-Taipei route; and from four to seven weekly flights on the Incheon-Ulaanbaatar route. Flights to China are still largely restricted due to the closed borders, but the airline will increase flights to China according to international flight operation plans agreed upon by the two nations.
To meet the increasing passenger demand, Korean Air will operate the A380 daily on the New York route and three times a week on the Hong Kong route from July, and daily on the Narita route from September.
