Korean sends big planes south in new winter schedule

Southeast Asia, China and Oceania will benefit from increased capacity as  Korean Air’s northern winter schedule kicks in from October 27 with a flurry of route adjustments. The new schedule will see the airline send its Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8i aircraft Downunder, with Sydney expected to see the Airbus superjumbo and Auckland its Boeing counterpart. The airline says the schedule changes are designed to enhance profitability and improve passenger convenience through the winter months. They come after falling demand on Japanese routes and in response to changes in seasonal demand. READ: Korean Air celebrates 50 years of international flying The airline is also launching new flights to the Philippines resort of Clark from October 27. The morning flights will leave Seoul Incheon at 7:55am and are in response to rising tourism demand. Also getting new flights are the Chinese cities of a Zhangjiajie, Nanjing and Hangzhou. Incheon-Zhangjiajie will be operated three times a week, Incheon-Nanjing four times a week, and Incheon-Hangzhou twice a week. The airline said frequency boosts to some key routes reflected rising winter demand. Its Incheon-Honolulu service will go from daily flights to eleven times a week, from December 9 while services from Incheon to Auckland and Brisbane will move from four and five times a week respectively to a daily operation during the season. Incheon-Manila flights will increase from 14 to 18 times a week, and the Incheon-Guam flight will rise from 14 to 20 times a week. The airline also will increase frequencies on the Incheon-Beijing route from 14 to 17 times a week, while flights to Dehli moved from five times a week to daily in September 2019. The flip side to the increasing winter capacity are routes that will either be suspended or reduced due to the seasonal drop in demand, including Incheon-St. Petersburg and Incheon-Irkutsk. Incheon-Zagreb and Incheon-Zurich will be temporarily suspended from December 2, while the airline’s Incheon-Kagoshima and Incheon-Oita services will be halted between January and March 2020. Korean operates more than 460 flights per day to 124 cities in 44 countries on five continents and has a modern fleet of 169 aircraft.