Air Premia to Operate New York Route in May... "Two Aircraft to Be Introduced Soon"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Hybrid airline Air Premia will add two more aircraft in the first half of the year and launch a route to New York, USA in May.

On the 7th, an Air Premia official said, "We are planning to launch the New York route in May."

Air Premia was established in 2017. It is a newly established airline that obtained its air transport business license in March 2019. It positions itself as a hybrid airline, between full-service carriers (FSC) and low-cost carriers (LCC). Starting with the Incheon-Singapore route (4 times a week) in July last year, it expanded to Ho Chi Minh (4 times a week) and Los Angeles (5 times a week) in October, and Tokyo (4 times a week) in December. With the addition of the New York route in May, it will operate a total of five routes.

The United States is an aviation liberalization country and does not require separate traffic rights. Any airline can freely use its airspace.

The arriving airport is likely to be Newark Liberty Airport in the United States. The official said, "We are currently reviewing both John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport and Newark Airport," adding, "Due to slots (the number of takeoff and landing opportunities) and other factors, we are slightly more positive about Newark."

To launch the New York route in May, Air Premia will add two aircraft in March and April. Currently, it owns a total of three aircraft. The additional aircraft to be introduced are Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. This will bring the total number of aircraft operated to five, adding two to the existing three.

Air Premia also plans to launch a route to Frankfurt, Germany in the future. It has already obtained the traffic rights. A company official said, "We are currently checking whether we have the aircraft capacity."

In December 2022 alone, Air Premia operated a total of 120 flights, transporting 33,401 passengers. The average load factor across routes was 89%. The Singapore route, which was launched first, had a 92% load factor; the most recently launched Tokyo route had 91%; and the Ho Chi Minh route had 88%. The long-haul Los Angeles route also recorded a load factor of over 86%. The sales targets are 374 billion KRW for this year, 544 billion KRW in 2024, 714 billion KRW in 2025, and 860 billion KRW in 2026, five years from now.