Korean Air is looking to regional Asian markets and the expansion of its Airbus A380 fleet to boost its business in the coming years.
Speaking to Travel Daily, the Seoul-based carrier’s Vice President for Southeast Asia & Oceania, Kim Jang Soo, said that economic uncertainty in Western economies and rising jet fuel prices have led the airline to focus on “quality rather than quantity”, with a greater degree of emphasis on Asian markets.
“We see opportunities of growth in two major areas: expanding the network of our A380 services and extending our reach to the fast growing Asian market,” Kim told Travel Daily. “While the global economy is slowing down, the Asian market is going strong. Our A380 is expected to become the best marketing tool to help us capture opportunities arising from the Asian premium air travel demand.
“The rapidly growing Asian travel demand will also bring us growth opportunities in the upcoming years. Korean Air currently operates to over 19 destinations in Southeast Asia and we will initiate an operation to Yangon later this year,” he added.
With reference to the Korean Air’s A380 plans, Kim said the airline was “keen to expand” its superjumbo routes, but that the number of airports equipped to handle the aircraft was limited. “We will take into consideration our fleet status, the fluctuation of air traffic demand and expansion of capable airports, and will further plan to either introduce new A380 routes or to increase capacity on current routes,” he said.
Kim added that all future Korean Air A380s would offer the existing cabin configuration, which offers just 407 seats and the entire top deck dedicated to business class passengers. The response to this unique configuration, Kim said, had been “very positive”.
In terms of fleet expansion, Korean Air expects to add 48 passenger aircraft by 2018, while its older Boeing 747-400s and A300-600s will be retired.
