Airlines Deploy Medium and Large Aircraft to Secure International Flight Demand

Alternative Plan Due to Limited Flight Increase
Korean Air and Asiana Begin Full Operation with A380 Deployment from End of This Month
Jin Air and T'way Also Expand Routes Further

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Airlines are actively introducing medium and large aircraft to recruit international passengers. This move is interpreted as a response to the rapidly increasing demand for overseas travel.

According to the aviation industry on the 21st, major full-service carriers (FSC) Korean Air and Asiana Airlines will begin deploying large aircraft in earnest from the end of this month.

Korean Air will introduce the superjumbo passenger aircraft A380, known as the "hotel in the sky," on the Incheon~New York and Incheon~Hong Kong routes starting next month. The B747-8i, one of the superjumbo aircraft, will also be introduced on the Incheon~Los Angeles (LA) route. Korean Air had been operating the B777-300ER on this route, which had only 277 seats. However, the A380 and B747-8i have 407 and 368 seats respectively, increasing capacity by more than 100 seats compared to the existing aircraft.

Additionally, Asiana Airlines will use the A380 on the Incheon~Bangkok and Incheon~LA routes starting on the 25th of this month and the 23rd of next month, respectively. Asiana Airlines' A380 operates with a total of 495 seats. The Bangkok route will see an increase of 197 seats compared to the previously operated A330 (298 seats), and the LA route will increase by 184 seats compared to the A350 (311 seats).

Low-cost carriers (LCCs) are also expanding their overseas routes with aircraft that can carry more passengers than before. Jin Air will deploy the B777-200ER with a total of 393 seats on the Incheon~Guam, Incheon~Clark, and Incheon~Kota Kinabalu routes starting from the 22nd of next month. This will supply more than twice the number of seats compared to the existing B737-800. T'way Air will also expand routes using the large A330-300, which has 347 seats. The A330, previously operated on the Incheon~Singapore and Incheon~Bangkok routes, will be used on the Incheon~Ulaanbaatar route to Mongolia starting from the 6th of next month.

The reason airlines are deploying medium and large aircraft is interpreted as the demand for air passengers increasing, but the increase in flight frequency not being smooth. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Aviation Information Portal System, in January, based on Incheon International Airport, there were 11,279 flights and 356,864 passengers. In May, there were 12,018 flights and 939,463 passengers. While the number of flights increased by about 800, the number of passengers surged by 163.26%.

Especially, from the 1st to the 20th of this month, there were 796,954 passengers and 9,279 flights. Compared to the same period last month, these represent increases of 38.45% and 12.21%, respectively, showing that passenger numbers are rising faster than flights. An aviation industry official explained, "It appears that medium and large aircraft are being deployed on routes where pent-up overseas travel demand due to COVID-19 is explosively increasing, in order to reduce the problem of seat shortages."