Korean Airlines to Increase Flights to Meet Higher Demand

SEOUL, Dec 7 Asia Pulse - Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, which cut back their air services after the Sept 11 terroriest attacks in the United States, have started adding flights to meet increased demand.
Industry sources said Friday Korean Air will relaunch three air routes from next Friday, including the Incheon-Atlanta route and expand flights on 10 air routes, including those between Incheon and Bangkok and Bali, Indonesia.

Asiana, too, will expand the number of US-bound flights to such cities as New York and Los Angeles.

Korean Air will increase its flights to Dallas and Atlanta to three times a week from next Friday and relaunch its Incheon-Dubai-Cairo route on Jan. 8 next year. It will also launch an Incheon-Zurich route from March 2 with two weekly flights.

Korean Air also plans to relaunch its Incheon-Saipan flights as soon as it obtains a license with at least one flight per day now that Korea's air safety has been restored to Category I. The air carrier has been unable to operate the route since 1997.

The airline also plans to increase Incheon-Bangkok, Pusan-Bangkok and Taegu-Bangkok flights from three to eight per week temporarily until the end of February to cope with increased number of newlyweds and group tours heading to warm vacation spots.

KAL plans to add 18 and 15 chartered flights per week to Bali and Macao, respectively.

The airline also plans to run 31 chartered flights a week to Manila, Hong Kong and Sydney. Its flights to Paris will be expanded to five weekly from four per week from Jan. 7.

Asiana will also expand its flights between Incheon and New York from three to four flights per week, while increasing its flights on the Incheon-L.A. route from seven to 10 per week from Jan. 15.

A Korean Air official said its move to expand the flight numbers is intended to cope with the increased number of vacationers to resorts around the world and increases in the number of general travelers during the holidays.