Korean Air will operate regular flights from Seoul (ICN) to Barcelona (BCN) next 28th April 2017 according to various spanish media reports. The route will be operated by a B772 three times week.

Korean Air operated charter flights between ICN-BCN in S15 and S16. Barcelona is the first destination for South Korean tourist.


In the next weeks, we will see other announcements of asian carrier flying to Barcelona in S17? Air China PVG-BCN or Japan Airways Tokio-BCN?


http://www.europapress.es/catalunya/not ... 05927.html

Shouldn't they get their MAD flight to daily first? Seems counter productive to launch second Spanish destination when MAD can't support daily flight,

Great news for BCN!

Next route should be, PVG.

nascar1 wrote:

Great news for BCN!

Next route should be, PVG.

Not only PVG, but HKG is the next one I think.

RacheyFlies wrote:

nascar1 wrote:

Great news for BCN!

Next route should be, PVG.

Not only PVG, but HKG is the next one I think.

The only carrier that could operate HKG-BCN is Cathay Pacific but, they have launched HKG-MAD this year and I doubt they will start a second route to Spain (Barcelona) in a few months, isn't it?

The only carrier that could operate HKG-BCN is Cathay Pacific but, they have launched HKG-MAD this year and I doubt they will start a second route to Spain (Barcelona) in a few months, isn't it?[/quote]

Why not ? MAD & BCN are different markets and if KE can serve both, why not CX ?

TC957 wrote:

Why not ? MAD & BCN are different markets and if KE can serve both, why not CX ?

I think it is a very different logic.

Cathay is quite agressively targeting connecting traffic to Asia/Australia out of Madrid (so competing with ME3). So for that they need local VFR Spanish traffic and business traffic.

Korean Air in MAD basically serves Korean tourists to Spain and the little business traffic between the two countries. Barcelona is a major tourist destination for Koreans (cruises, etc) and Asiana and Korean have charters, so it makes sense for them to serve both destinations.

Korean = Korean tourism / Cathay = mix of Spanish / Asian VFR + holiday + business

fjmm92 wrote:

Korean Air will operate regular flights from Seoul (ICN) to Barcelona (BCN) next 28th April 2017 according to various spanish media reports. The route will be operated by a B772 three times week.
Korean Air operated charter flights between ICN-BCN in S15 and S16. Barcelona is the first destination for South Korean tourist.
In the next weeks, we will see other announcements of asian carrier flying to Barcelona in S17? Air China PVG-BCN or Japan Airways Tokio-BCN?
http://www.europapress.es/catalunya/not ... 05927.html

Does KE codeshare with Air Europa? There is no mention anywhere I can find - either through MAD or using UX's handful of flights out of BCN. That might help by adding a few (but the key word is few) passengers traveling to and from the Iberian peninsula.

There are several other destinations in Europe that get several flights per week (but no daily flights) from KE, so why shouldn't it work fine for them?

Ohh nice! always good to have a direct connection to Asia.

Hopefully fares are reasonable.

nascar1 wrote:

Great news for BCN!

Next route should be, PVG.

PVG should also start soon with Air China, still not clear if it will be direct, or will also use VIE as a stop (like their current BCN-VIE-PEK)

MIAspotter.

alfa164 wrote:

[Does KE codeshare with Air Europa? There is no mention anywhere I can find - either through MAD or using UX's handful of flights out of BCN. That might help by adding a few (but the key word is few) passengers traveling to and from the Iberian peninsula.

UX codeshares with KE in MAD-ICN.

thats a nice addition to BCN, but arent the yields dirt cheap?

thekorean wrote:

Shouldn't they get their MAD flight to daily first? Seems counter productive to launch second Spanish destination when MAD can't support daily flight,

Very different market types. MAD is more business, BCN is more pleasure.

This is great news,

With KE recently announcing additional frequencies to SFO and now the weekly flights to BCN, it looks like KE is finally starting to expand internationally.

Wondering what the next destination announced by KE could. Boston , Manchester?

EK006 wrote:

This is great news,

With KE recently announcing additional frequencies to SFO and now the weekly flights to BCN, it looks like KE is finally starting to expand internationallying

Wondering what the next destination announced by KE could. Boston , Manchester?

KE already flies to Rome. Boston is possible with 789. I also see San Jose, return of Melbourne, and San Diego. Can't see any other European destinations on account that none of them are too obvious. Munich? Its not even daily on LH. Maybe India expansion? Chennai?

MIAspotter wrote:

PVG should also start soon with Air China, still not clear if it will be direct, or will also use VIE as a stop (like their current BCN-VIE-PEK)

MIAspotter.

PVG is going to be announced soon, very soon. Last week I was talking with a friend who works for Air China and he leaked me some details about this route.

Route is going to be direct without stopovers and with 3 weekly flights.

Good for BCN. It looks like the Spain-Asia market is continuing to flourish.

EK006 wrote:

This is great news,

With KE recently announcing additional frequencies to SFO and now the weekly flights to BCN, it looks like KE is finally starting to expand internationally.

Wondering what the next destination announced by KE could. Boston , Manchester?

I can see BOS being their next US destination, it's been rumored for quite some time now. I can see MAN at some point, but not in the near future.

thekorean wrote:

KE already flies to Rome. Boston is possible with 789. I also see San Jose, return of Melbourne, and San Diego. Can't see any other European destinations on account that none of them are too obvious. Munich? Its not even daily on LH. Maybe India expansion? Chennai?

I definately think its the right time to return to MEL, the Korea - Melbourne market has definately steadily grown despite the absence of direct flights. MEL is experiencing a surge in NE Asia flights with China, Japan and Taiwan growing strongly, both Japan and Taiwan were only added in the past couple of years whilst connections to China have been going gangbusters this year alone.

Either KE comes back itself, or I think Jin Air can operate the route seasonally during the December - March peak period.

EK006 wrote:

This is great news,

With KE recently announcing additional frequencies to SFO and now the weekly flights to BCN, it looks like KE is finally starting to expand internationally.

Wondering what the next destination announced by KE could. Boston , Manchester?

Not only SFO: Korean increased LAX (restoration of an additional 5x weekly flight, actually) + SEA as well.

BOS = maybe
MAN = highly doubtful, as Asia traffic tend to flow to places with historical UK ties (BKK an exception)

thekorean wrote:

KE already flies to Rome. Boston is possible with 789. I also see San Jose, return of Melbourne, and San Diego. Can't see any other European destinations on account that none of them are too obvious. Munich? Its not even daily on LH. Maybe India expansion? Chennai?

In Europe perhaps they could increase frequency to existing stations not served daily.
Germany is fairly well covered with lots of capacity (KE, LH, OZ) to FRA on both 380 and 748i.

DEL is commencing soon. Incidentally, timings are NOT suited for TPAC connections.
MAA = highly unlikely...very much a niche business connection, easily connected via DEL/BOM/BKK/SIN/KUL

I noticed a good amount of Korean tourists when I was in Barcelona a few months ago. I found it interesting that all of the books at the famous sites like Gaudi buildings were in Mandarin, Japanese, and Russian but not Korean. Seems like a good leisure market to develop.

Is anyone aware of some not so obvious business connections that may fill seats up front on BCN-ICN versus say MAD-ICN?

thekorean wrote:

Shouldn't they get their MAD flight to daily first? Seems counter productive to launch second Spanish destination when MAD can't support daily flight,

Not quite sure if you are aware, but Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, a region of Spain with its own languange, where Spanish (or Castellano as it is more precisely referred to here) is taught in school as a foreign language, with a strong separatist movement that on Catalan Independence Day brings out 2 Million People in the streets of BCN to demonstrate for Catalan Independence.

So you can view BCN as much as an entry point into Spain as would be Rome or Paris.

BCN's airport has had massive growth over the past view years, I believe it was 20% last year. And obviously much of that is leisure traffic, but it's Catalonia is the wealthiest region of Spain.

So, perfectly understood that KE wants to make last year's summer charters a more permanent thing.

JayBCNLON wrote:

BCN's airport has had massive growth over the past view years, I believe it was 20% last year. And obviously much of that is leisure traffic, but it's Catalonia is the wealthiest region of Spain.

Catalonia is Spain's 4th region by GDP per capita (after Madrid, the Basque Country and Navarra), which is a good proxy for disposable income. And it will eventually being overtaken by Madrid in total GDP soon (despite Madrid having like 1.5 million fewer people).

SCQ83 wrote:

JayBCNLON wrote:

BCN's airport has had massive growth over the past view years, I believe it was 20% last year. And obviously much of that is leisure traffic, but it's Catalonia is the wealthiest region of Spain.

Catalonia is Spain's 4th region by GDP per capita (after Madrid, the Basque Country and Navarra), which is a good proxy for disposable income. And it will eventually being overtaken by Madrid in total GDP soon (despite Madrid having like 1.5 million fewer people).

This forum is about airlines and planes, not for political topics. Thanks

Is there any talk of further KE expansion? Be great to see them back in MEL- I know they pulled the route 6 or 7 years again by markets change, and mature.

fjmm92 wrote:

This forum is about airlines and planes, not for political topics. Thanks

Politics and economics are extremely related to where airlines and planes will fly.

I actually wouldn't rule MAN out so quickly. Always seems to happen on these forums where Manchester seems to get ruled out quickly, but with 25million plus passengers, more long haul links than ever and still growing, it's time to stop with the very quick 'nah, not Manchester' but then rule others in very easily.

I don't expect a flight for a few years, but:

-Tourism links to North Wales, the lakes and tapping into the Scottish areas too could bring inward tourism

-always seems to be decent cargo flows to Seoul on one stop flights

-fair few connections via the eastern links too.

-there is more to the Manchester area than people give credit for. Petrochemical, growing tech sector (including the 'home of Graphine' and various other business opportunities.

-currently a series of charter flights to Glasgow on Korean Air, perhaps MAN could capitalise on those?

I do believe it's only a matter of time before North East Asia is served from Manchester, and it will be between Seoul and Tokyo. It's a matter of when, not if.

Why does Air China fly PEK-VIE-BCN & BCN-VIE-PEK? While I don't know the yearly demand between BCN & PEK, I would think that adding a stop in VIE allows the flight to PEK to be more full, as a direct flight between BCN & PEK might be yow yielding. Is this true? While it would be nice, what is really stopping Air China from flying direct between BCN & PEK without the VIE stop?

NichCage wrote:

Why does Air China fly PEK-VIE-BCN & BCN-VIE-PEK? While I don't know the yearly demand between BCN & PEK, I would think that adding a stop in VIE allows the flight to PEK to be more full, as a direct flight between BCN & PEK might be yow yielding. Is this true? While it would be nice, what is really stopping Air China from flying direct between BCN & PEK without the VIE stop?

BCN-PEK 2015 JAN-OCT= 48.189
BCN-PEK 2016 JAN-OCT= 52.597 (+9%)

PEK-VIE-BCN route began in 2014. Since then, traffic between PEK and BCN has rised every year so, Air China is planning fly from Pekin to Barcelona without stop at VIE .Also,according to spanish media, Air China has de rights to operate the PVG-BCN route, the most unserved route between China and Europe (http://www.anna.aero/2016/07/01/shangha ... nd-europe/)

It's possible that in S17 CA will operate BCN-PEK and PVG three or four times a week directly.

http://www.cerodosbe.com/es/transportes ... 4_102.html (PVG slots)
http://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/busi ... 2_102.html (Air China recruitment in Barcelona)
http://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/busi ... 1_102.html (Air China PVG_BCN route will revealed in FEB 2017)

User001 wrote:

I actually wouldn't rule MAN out so quickly. Always seems to happen on these forums where Manchester seems to get ruled out quickly, but with 25million plus passengers, more long haul links than ever and still growing, it's time to stop with the very quick 'nah, not Manchester' but then rule others in very easily.

I don't expect a flight for a few years, but:

-Tourism links to North Wales, the lakes and tapping into the Scottish areas too could bring inward tourism

-always seems to be decent cargo flows to Seoul on one stop flights

-fair few connections via the eastern links too.

-there is more to the Manchester area than people give credit for. Petrochemical, growing tech sector (including the 'home of Graphine' and various other business opportunities.

-currently a series of charter flights to Glasgow on Korean Air, perhaps MAN could capitalise on those?

I do believe it's only a matter of time before North East Asia is served from Manchester, and it will be between Seoul and Tokyo. It's a matter of when, not if.

The reason is because there is constant hot air and waffle from MAN based aficionados:

FlyNas 3 months scrapped MAN!!

Oman air no longer on sale per their website today.

This big Detroit rumour: it was stated on MAN page that "Delta Detroit-Manchester 5 weekly from 25th May 17 to be announced late September." - where is this?

AC to YVR (Rouge or mainline!!) was also stated - where is this?

Air China MAN - Shanghai was mentioned as a given! 1st Nov 16 announcement was allegedly expected per MAn forum with a start date in May - where is this?

XIY by Hainan was also stated as a given - where is this?

DY long haul mentioned for starting May - where is the truth in this? Never heard May start date...

AI mentioned for May - where is this?

TCX was stated to Cape Town and San Diego - where are these officially announced?

Also.... notably, VS are only operating summer seasonal to Boston, Las Vegas JFK and SFO and MT are only seasonal with LAX and MIA.

So.... people are possibly fed up of constant unfounded rumours about services which never actually happen. And most of the new routes to the USA are summer only and not year round. Hardly surprising therefore that people don't consider MAN as a viable destination for KE. It would be nice if things were kept real and based on facts rather than hearsay and wishful thinking like the content of the MAN thread!

Wow,

Quite the outburst there n272wa? Where to start.

Every airport has its rumours. Do all of those rumours come off? No they don't. Let's go through your list though....

Flynas scrapped all of its long haul, so, that wasn't a MAN specific issue.

Oman Air has not made it to the main site to be booked yet, but can be booked via several online platforms.

The DL Detroit rumour actually started life at the DTW end, and it was a 3rd party site that really set that one in motion, but by all means, blame the MAN fans if it makes you feel better.

AC to YVR, well, AC is still tinkering with its schedules in a big way. They removed the second daily YVR-LHR, shall we lambast the LHR guys for that decision too, or, is it just MAN you lay into?

Air China. They are having slot issues at PVG hence BCN not bookable either, applied for at the same time as MAN, but, as said before, by all means blame MAN for that one, didn't realise they had the power to relinquish slots at long haul airports.

Hainan to XIY- was more of a passing comment, not a given

DY long haul, we'll keep your eye on that hat, you may yet have to eat it based on the info I have seen.

AI, they are supposedly charters, and were mentioned as charters, so, unlikely we will hear about it and will not be made bookable.

TCX- Cape Town is a W17 start which is miles off and no where near bookable yet, and SAN is a S18 start, and if you can find me any flight bookable in S18 then hats off to you!

As for VS, so what if it's only summer seasonal, big whoop. Everything has to start somewhere.

You mention all the above as rubbish rumours, but let's look at what MAN does support shall we?

4 weekly Cathay to Hong Kong
4 weekly Hainan to Beijing
3 daily A380 to Dubai
5 weekly Singapore on SQ
5 weekly Jeddah on Saudia
5 weekly year round to Houston
Summer routes to 14 US destinations, more than many European capitals
Most European countries covered with multiple daily flights
Around 110 aircraft based at Manchester with more to come next summer.

So, why not get off your high horse and fill in that chip you have. I don't know why you are taking such an issue with us little MAN folk wanting to aim high.

My main point was that at 25+ million pax, realistically 27m next year, MAN is not the small regional that can be cast aside so easily any more, it's ine of the busiest airports in Europe. Given KE serve smaller airports than MAN, excuse us for thinking a service is possible!

User001 wrote:

The DL Detroit rumour actually started life at the DTW end, and it was a 3rd party site that really set that one in motion, but by all means, blame the MAN fans if it makes you feel better.

I feel like Brexit made an affect on the starting of this flight. The sources were right though, passenger numbers continue to rise between the city pairs, it would make sense for DL to do it but maybe Thomas Cook could be a good option too?

Finally KE has opened reservations.

KE915 ICN1315 – 2010BCN 772 135
KE916 BCN2210 – 1720+1ICN 772 135

JayBCNLON wrote:

thekorean wrote:

Shouldn't they get their MAD flight to daily first? Seems counter productive to launch second Spanish destination when MAD can't support daily flight,

Not quite sure if you are aware, but Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, a region of Spain with its own languange, where Spanish (or Castellano as it is more precisely referred to here) is taught in school as a foreign language, with a strong separatist movement that on Catalan Independence Day brings out 2 Million People in the streets of BCN to demonstrate for Catalan Independence.

So you can view BCN as much as an entry point into Spain as would be Rome or Paris.

BCN's airport has had massive growth over the past view years, I believe it was 20% last year. And obviously much of that is leisure traffic, but it's Catalonia is the wealthiest region of Spain.

So, perfectly understood that KE wants to make last year's summer charters a more permanent thing.

LOL PLEASE !!! it didn't even bring 200 000 and spanish is not being taught as foreign language thats english every catalan understands and speaks spanish let's get real

moving on as mentioned here Madrid serves more as a business destination with higher yield while barcelona is a huge tourist destination but with lower yield