Korean Air will take more steps in its recovery to pre-pandemic levels by resuming more international routes in its upcoming winter schedule.
By adding routes and boosting frequencies, the carrier expects to lift its capacity to more than 90% of 2019 levels, as measured in available seat kilometers. This will be up from 85% in September, the carrier said. Korean Air’s winter schedule season extends from Oct. 29 to March 30, 2024.
Data from CAPA and OAG confirms the airline is operating 85.9% of its system capacity for the week of Oct. 2 versus the same week in 2019. International capacity is at about the same level, as Korean’s operations are primarily international.
This is a significant improvement from the airline’s 68.2% system recovery rate at the start of 2023.
Korean Air will be resuming three routes between South Korea and China during the winter season: Busan-Shanghai, Seoul-Xiamen, and Seoul-Kunming. There will also be frequency increases on six Chinese routes, most notably on the Seoul-Beijing route which will rise from daily to 18 times per week.
The airline said it will be boosting its capacity to China to meet the growing number of Chinese visitors. This traffic flow has been helped by the addition of South Korea to the list of approved destinations for Chinese tour groups from August.
In the Japan market, Korean Air will resume flights from Seoul to Kagoshima, Niigata, and Okayama. The carrier will also increase frequency on four of its key routes to Japan.
Other frequency increases will occur on Korean Air’s Asian, Australasian, and U.S. networks.
A new route will be launched from Seoul to the leisure destination Phu Quoc in Vietnam on Nov. 26.
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