Korean Air expands SE Asian, Chinese routes to make up for reduced Japan flights

Korean Air is expanding its Southeast Asian, Chinese and Oceania routes, in response to falling demand for air travel to Japan amid the ongoing trade row between South Korea and Japan.

According to Korean Air, it is reorganizing and expanding some of its international routes to make up for lower demand for flights to Japanese cities. 

The full-service air carrier will add seven weekly Incheon-Clark flights from Oct. 27. 

It will also expand the current 14 weekly flights on the Incheon-Da Nang route to 21 times a week and add four weekly flights on the Incheon-Chiang Mai and Incheon-Bali routes. 

The air carrier also plans to add new Chinese destinations, such as Zhangjiajie, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and expand the Incheon-Beijing route to 17 flights per week. The expansion will kick off following the Transport Ministry’s approval.

Due to lackluster demand for Japanese routes amid a boycott of tourism to the country, the company said last month that it will streamline routes between Korea’s regional cities and less popular Japanese cities.

Beginning Sept. 3, it will cease its weekly Busan-Osaka route. Jeju-Narita and Jeju-Osaka will be suspended from Nov. 1.

Recent government data showed that the seat occupancy on flights to and from Japan dipped to 71.5 percent during the peak summer holiday season this year from 84.5 percent last year. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)