Asiana Airlines, based in South Korea, has declared its plan to expand its flight operations connecting Melbourne and Seoul, aiming to resume direct flights between these cities later in the year.
Initially, the airline offered seasonal flights twice a week starting in December, which are set to conclude this month. However, Asiana Airlines has now announced that it will increase the frequency of these seasonal flights to four times a week, from July 2 to September 2.
The scheduled flights will depart from Melbourne every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. These flights will be aboard the modern Airbus A350, taking off at 11:10 pm from Melbourne and arriving in Seoul at 9:15 am the next day.
This move by Asiana marks the airline as the pioneer in re-establishing a direct connection from Victoria to Seoul, a city home to approximately nine million residents, following the disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Jim Parashos, the Chief of Aviation at Melbourne Airport, highlighted that this expansion is a response to the high demand witnessed during the holiday season, indicating strong interest in travel between the two cities.
“Seoul was Melbourne’s largest unserved market, so it was no surprise to us when in January we saw an average load factor of 96% on all Asiana flights arriving into Melbourne Airport, which represents fewer than 10 vacant seats free on almost every flight” he said.
“We know there’s huge demand for this service with more than 4500 passengers flying between the two cities across December and January.
“This new seasonal service will coincide with Korea’s peak holiday period, so we expect it to attract even stronger demand.
“Whilst an incredible culinary and music scene has driven strong leisure interest, we expect demand for business travel to grow as Korean corporate giants such as Hanwha and Lotte increase their Victorian footprint.
“We also think many Victorians will utilise Asiana services to Europe, North Asia and North America, given the opportunity to break their journey in Seoul.
“This is a big commitment and sign of faith from Asiana in the Melbourne market and will hopefully pave the way for year-round services in the future.
“An average daily international flight is worth more than $154 million a year to the Victorian economy and gives exporters more options for sending high value, time critical goods into foreign markets.
“In December we became the first capital city airport to exceed pre-pandemic international capacity and announcements like this show we are not looking back in 2024. “
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