South Korea has signed an open-skies agreement with Brunei Darussalam and Singapore, allowing an unlimited number of flights to be operated between the respective countries.
South Korea has signed an open-skies agreement with Brunei Darussalam and Singapore, allowing an unlimited number of flights to be operated between the respective countries.
In the agreement with Brunei Darussalam, previous restrictions on the number of frequencies, aircraft types, and the cities that could be served have been eliminated, says South Korea’s ministry of land, infrastructure and transport.
The parties have also agreed to allow up to four weekly flights to be operated to or via a third country, such as a Brunei-China-South Korea or Brunei-South Korea-USA service.
Cirium schedules data shows that Royal Brunei Airlines flies a four-times-weekly Bandar Seri Begawan to Seoul Incheon service, and that Korean Air codeshares on this.
As for the agreement with Singapore, frequency restrictions for direct flights between the two countries are now removed. This will enable airlines to begin services from any South Korean city to Singapore. Previously, in August 2018, the two sides agreed to allow up to two daily services between Busan and Singapore.
Fifth-freedom rights for flights to or via a third country have been increased from 10 weekly to twice daily. Cirium data shows that Scoot is now the sole user of the fifth-freedom rights, operating a thrice-weekly service between Taipei Taoyuan and Seoul Incheon.
The schedules data also indicates that Singapore Airlines dominates the Singapore-South Korea market with flights from Singapore to Busan and Seoul. Asiana Airlines and Korean Air compete with SIA between Seoul and Singapore, while Jeju Air competes with SIA on the Busan-Singapore sector.
