News
Korean Air trims international network for October
September 11th 2020
Korean Air (KAL) has dropped three international destinations and adjusted frequencies on a number of other routes in its latest October schedule updated this week. Read More »
The SkyTeam alliance member planned to suspend flights to Osaka Kansai and Nagoya in Japan from Seoul Incheon at the end of September, while service from Sydney also will end.
The changes represented a slight reduction in KAL’s international flying, given it had only one flight from Sydney to Incheon listed for September. Osaka and Nagoya had two and three flights, respectively, scheduled for the month.
Another reduction was on the Cebu-Incheon route, which is dropping from three flights a month in September to one flight in October. Bookings are not open for Incheon-Cebu.
Among the routes with a capacity boost, KAL’s schedules showed there would be one weekly service between Incheon and Prague in October, up from one flight for the month of September. There also would be a daily flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Incheon in October, an increase from six a week.
Singapore will be serviced with five flights a week from October 24, compared with three flights a week currently.
KAL’s domestic network is unchanged at 50 flights a day on six routes – Seoul Gimpo to Busan, Jeju and Ulsan, as well as Jeju to Busan, Cheongju and Gwangju.
KAL is strictly enforcing rules that require passengers to wear a face covering on flights, with the exception of those under two years of age and people with medical conditions.
Those who refused to wear a mask would be denied boarding, while police would be called if travellers became violent or aggressive.
Figures from South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport published this week showed KAL carried 381,359 domestic passengers in August, down 46% from the same month a year earlier, while the number of international passengers fell 95.4% to 82,323.
Total domestic passengers in South Korea declined 6.1% to 2.8 million and international passengers were down 97.1%, at 234,328, in August.
South Korea's Air Busan has become the latest carrier to jump on board the "flight to nowhere" initiative. This week it took students from a local university on a two-hour trip that departed Gimhae International Airport and flew over parts of Seoul, Gwangju and Jeju Island before returning to Gimhae.
The Korea Herald reported the airline was considering opening up these sorts of flights to the general public in the future, when the risks of spreading COVID-19 were reduced.
