Korean airlines temporarily reduce flights to China

Published : Mar 15, 2017 - 17:46 Updated : Mar 15, 2017 - 18:27

Korean air carriers are temporarily reducing flights to China, as the country’s unofficial ban on travel to Korea went into effect Wednesday.

The nation’s largest air carrier Korean Air said that it would be reducing flights on low-demand routes “under circumstances in which demand for China-bound flights will unavoidably fall.”

The ban, which lasts until April 23, will affect 79 flights on eight routes out of Korean Air’s 38 routes to China. The airline said that reservations for its China-bound flights has dropped about 10 percent compared to last year. Chinese routes make up 13 percent of Korean Air’s serviced routes.

(Korean Air, Asiana Airlines)

Asiana Airlines also said that it will be reducing its Chinese routes until the end of April. A total of 79 flights on six routes will be canceled, in addition to 11 flights that will stop service through to March 25.

China-bound flights make up 40.5 percent of Asiana’s total international flights. As of the fourth quarter of last year, sales from Chinese routes made up 19 percent of Asiana’s total revenue.

Both airlines said that they will look for new demand in areas other than China, such as Japan and Southeast Asia.

The airline industry is not the only sector to have suffered from China’s retaliation against Korean businesses for the installment of an anti-missile defense system here.

On Wednesday, Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan met with representatives from industries hit hard by recent Chinese practices including the duty-free, tourism, and electronics industries. At the meeting, Joo received reports about the extent of the damage caused by sweeping inspections and stricter customs tests imposed by Chinese authorities.

He promised that Korea would continue to try to negotiate with China on these retaliatory actions and that the government would provide support to the affected industries. The Korean government will be providing approximately 400 billion won ($350.2 million) in funds, contributed by the Small and Medium Business Administration, the Tourism Ministry and the Financial Services Commission.

Joo also said that the Korean government will look into whether China’s actions can be considered violations of the Korean-Chinese free trade agreement.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government showed no signs of easing its pressure on Korean companies.

“Although we have not yet seen significant declines in sales, we expect that after Wednesday we will start to see clearer falling trends,” said a spokesman for a duty-free operator.

Wednesday was also World Consumer Rights Day in China, when certain businesses are called out for bad practices on the CCTV network in an annual television show. In the wake of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense spat, it has been widely speculated that Korean businesses will feature prominently on the show this year.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)