Korean Air to Pick up Domestic Passengers in Australia

SEOUL, Nov 23 Asia Pulse - The Australian government recently offered Korean Air a temporary license to operate a domestic flight between Brisbane and Sydney, the Construction and Transportation Ministry said Friday.

The Australian government has apparently decided to rely on foreign carriers to pick up some of the routes left under serviced after the collapse of Ansett Airlines, one of its domestic air carriers, ministry sources said.

Korean Air will thus pick up domestic passengers on flights from Sydney that have layovers in Brisbane from this month until Dec. 31, but the flight service may be extended if requested by the Australian government. It will be the first time in Korea's civil aviation history for a Korean flag carrier to operate domestic flights in a foreign country.

Korean Air flies 400-seat B747-400s seven times a week to Australia, and three of the flights stop in Brisbane.

The air carrier has decided to charge only US$75 per person on its flights between Brisbane and Sydney, a low rate since it has only three weekly flights and expects to earn around $20,000 per week.

In the meantime, the Korean ministry plans to sign an accord with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia to assume responsibility for overseeing the operation of Korean Air in Australia including maintenance and flight operations.

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By the way, Australian Government has also granted Garuda Indonesia to fly partial Australian domestic route since October.