South Korea-France Governments Agree to Revise Air Service Agreement
Flights to Rome and Barcelona Starting August-September
T'way Air will be able to start flights to Paris, France before the corporate merger procedures of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are completed. Initially, the French government opposed the plan, citing a violation of the bilateral agreement, making the launch uncertain, but the Korean government and France have agreed to amend the agreement.
According to industry explanations on the 7th, the Korean and French governments have agreed to temporarily allow three Korean airlines to operate the Paris route. Previously, the European Union Executive Commission allowed T'way to operate the Paris route without revising the air service agreement itself until the merger between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines is finalized, as a condition for approving their corporate merger.
T'way Air was designated as a replacement carrier for Korean Air's passenger routes when the EU competition authorities granted conditional approval for the corporate merger in February. However, the air service agreement between Korea and France posed an issue. The 1974 air service agreement allowed only a single national carrier to operate the Paris route, which was later expanded in 2008 to allow two Korean airlines (Korean Air and Asiana Airlines).
Following the EU's conditional approval, T'way Air prepared to launch flights to Paris, but due to the bilateral agreement, additional negotiations between the two governments took place. Initially, T'way planned to start flights to Paris at the end of this month using aircraft leased from Korean Air, but the schedule has been slightly delayed. A T'way Air official said, "It is still too early to specify the exact launch date," adding, "Once the date is set, we will announce it and begin ticket sales."
T'way Air has also decided to launch new routes to Rome, Italy, and Barcelona, Spain, and began accepting reservations from today. The Rome route will operate three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday) starting August 8, and the Barcelona route will operate three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) starting September 11. Both routes will use A330-200 aircraft.
The flight to Rome departs from Incheon Airport at 12:35 PM and arrives at Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport at 7:15 PM local time. The flight to Barcelona departs from Incheon Airport at 11:05 AM and arrives at Barcelona El Prat Airport at 6:50 PM local time.
Another planned route to Frankfurt, Germany, is scheduled to launch its first flight in October. All four routes proposed by the EU competition authorities as replacement routes for the merger have either been confirmed or will be confirmed soon.
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