News
Korean Air ends Incheon B747-400 operations and Asiana sells off assets
May 6th 2016
Korean Air will terminate scheduled B747-400 passenger flights from its Seoul Incheon hub from May 31, but will continue using the jumbo jet on regional flights from Seoul’s downtown Gimpo Airport to Beijing, Shanghai, Osaka and Jeju. Read More »
The B747-400 has been the South Korean flag carrier’s workhorse. It once operated more than 40 of the type and still flies eleven of them. They are being phased out in lieu of B747-8s, and more importantly, B777-300ERs.
On the single-aisle front, Korean Air last year placed an order for 30 A321neo (plus 20 options), including the LR variant as well as 30 B737 MAXs (plus 20 options).
Asiana Airlines, South Korea’s second largest carrier, this week continued rolling out new cost-cutting measures to arrest its declining bottom line. Asiana’s board has agreed to sell a 50% stake in Vietnamese construction firm, Kumho Asiana Plaza Saigon, for 122.35 billion won ($106.82 million) and 100% of bus terminal operator, Kumho Terminal Co., for 270 billion won ($235 million).
The Star Alliance airline has been bleeding red ink in recent years as it came under immense pressure from a fast growing low-cost carrier market in South Korea. To counter the budget carrier onslaught, Asiana plans to launch Air Seoul later this year, its second LCC, following Air Busan.
Air Seoul is expected to compete fiercely with other no-frills airlines on leisure-heavy routes to China, Japan and Southeast Asia, going head-to-head with local rivals Jeju Air, Eastar Air and T’Way Airlines.
