Time to take to the skies again for more of the Korean Air fleet. It’s time for the South Korean flag carrier to resume flights to a series of destinations across Asia and beyond. Let’s recap what will happen in regards to the Korean Air flight network in the coming weeks.
Korean Air Resuming Flights To Much of China
The biggest news is Korean Air’s response to the loosening of covid restrictions in China. The Korean flag carrier ha in fact announced the resumption and upgrade of many flights to China in the coming weeks. The destinations which will see flights from Incheon International airport return or be increased are:
- Shanghai (PVG)
- Nanjing (NKG)
- Qingdao (TAO)
- Dalian (DLC)
- Shenyang (SHE)
- Tianjin (TSN)
More specifically Shanghai will see flight KE897 fly out of Seoul’s Incheon International Airport every Sunday at 8:30 AM arriving into Shanghai at 9:55 AM starting November 20th 2022. The flight will be operated using a Korean Air 777-300 and will make the return flight departing PVG at 1:15 PM and landing at 4:55 PM.
The Nanjing sector with flight number KE101 will also have a weekly frequency. The flight will take off out of Seoul every Wednesday morning at 09:00 AM and land into Nanjing at 10:30 AM. The return flight is scheduled for 1:15 PM landing in Seoul at 4:55 PM. In this case the Korean carrier has chosen a smaller 737-800 for the route.
The third third route to join the Korean Air route network in China is Qindao, Flight KE845. The city located just across the yellow sea from South Korea, will see a weekly flight from and to Seoul every Sunday. The flight, operated with a high capacity Boeing 777-300, will fly out at 09:05 AM and land in China at 9:45 and returning into Seoul at 1:25PM.
Dalian will simply saw KE flights resume post covid from October 28 (on a 777-300). Last but not least are the flights to Shenyang and Tianjing which will now have a twice a week service.
Korean Returning to Japan and Israel
Part of this big late 2022 expansion of Korean Air operations is also Japan and Israel. The light blue planes from Korean will resume flying to Sapporo and Okinawa since all restrictions to travel have been lifted to access the country.
These are some of the most popular sectors pre covid in Japan for the airline. Okinawa will get a 4 times weekly service, starting December 1st, covered with the Boeing 737-8. Sapporo on the other hand will get a daily flight from Incheon, starting December 1st, with one of the airline’s 737-900s.
Lastly Tel-Aviv in Israel will finally have a direct flight to Seoul with a 3 times weekly flight starting December 26. The flight will is scheduled to depart Incheon at 2:35PM and arrive into Ben Gurion airport at 8:00PM. With the reverse flight leaving Israel at 9:55PM and arriving 3:10PM the day after in South Korea. An Airbus A330-200 will fly this route on all 3 frequencies.
An Aggressive Expansion On The Road To Recovery
This is clearly a very aggressive expansion of operations by the South Korean national carrier. The carrier is looking to regain its position as one of the main players in the far east as demand for flight finally is on the rise.
However we’ll have to keep an eye on how the airline will accomodate all these new services with its fleet. Particularly if it will announce any additions or purchases of new airliners to replace some of its older pieces.
