Korean Air will restore six routes into Mainland China – its most significant ramp-up into China in recent months – as it looks to increase frequencies to three other Chinese points.
The SkyTeam carrier also announced on 20 June it will ramp up operations into Japan on the back of “growing travel demand”.
From 1 July, Korean Air will resume daily operations between Busan and Shanghai Pudong, as well as between Jeju and Beijing.
In August, the airline will restore five weekly flights between Seoul’s Incheon airport and Hefei, followed by Busan-Beijing in September. In October, the airline will resume operations between Seoul and Kunming, with four weekly flights.
Korean Air adds that it will increase frequencies on flights from Seoul to Yanji (four times a week to daily flights). Flights between the South Korean capital and Tianjin and Dalian will see the most significant ramp-up, with Tianjin increased to double daily and Dalian going from four weekly flights to 11 flights a week.
The ramp-up comes more than a month after the flag carrier warned of weaker demand from Mainland China, even as system-wide capacity recovers close to pre-pandemic levels.
Separately, Korean Air will also add two additional flights a week to the Mongolian capital of UIaanbaatar between 1 June and 30 September.
As for its Japan network, the carrier will resume seasonal operations between Jeju and Tokyo Narita between 19 July and 25 October.
Seoul-Okayama will see an increase from three to five weekly flights from August, while Seoul-Kagoshima operations will also see a similar increase in September.
