ROUTE DEVELOPMENT
Asiana Airlines Incheon’s other major resident carrier is Asiana Airlines.
Established in 1988, Asiana operates 67 of its 85 destinations from Incheon. Its top destinations include Toyko, Osaka, Fukuoka, Beijing, Shanghai and Los Angeles. To coincide with Incheon’s 10th anniversary, Asiana plans to launch a route between Incheon and Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen International Airport on March 29 and will launch a service to Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar in 2012. According to Taek-Kyu Sun, manager of Asiana’s network planning team, basing operations at Incheon provides international carriers with a number of advantages. “With a Free Trade Agreement recently signed with the
US, and South Korea’s admission into its Visa Waiver Program in 2008, along with the development of Open Skies agreements with China and Japan, Incheon Airport has the potential to become one of the world’s premier hubs,” he argues. Sun says Incheon’s efforts to maximise passenger convenience and improve infrastructure have been important, including the third runway, which will be able to handle Next Generation Aircraft, and the inclusion of art and cultural items, making the airport a ‘living and breathing’ complex of interconnected facilities. “In terms of operational costs, Incheon Airport is more
conservative than other airports in the region. This allows it to keep its airport fees lower, which is another strong point for the airport’s competitiveness,” adds Sun.
In a move that will dramatically increase the scope of
Asiana’s operations, the airline has ordered six A380s. Once delivered in 2014, these aircraft will be deployed on routes to Los Angeles and New York and other Asian and European destinations that have yet to be decided. From 2016, Asiana will begin receiving the first of 30 A350XWB’s to help it launch several super long-haul services and connect Incheon to new markets. The airline is proud of its award-winning cabin and airport services, which it says differentiate it from many other long-haul carriers. Asiana is also one of Incheon’s other major cargo carriers. In 2010, it processed 679,909 tons and among its top cargo destinations were Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong. The 54,000sqm Asiana Incheon Cargo Terminal includes 19 large truck docks, 14 flat docks and six special storage facilities, not to mention cold storage and a valuable goods area; annually the terminal can process up to 1.1 million tons. “Our future plans for developing our cargo operations at Incheon include expanding the frequency of freight flights to the US market. We plan to increase the frequency of freighters to the US to twice a week from June 1 this year, followed by an additional two times a week from August,” said Hyun-Jung Sung, manager of Asian’s cargo marketing team. The carrier is also a member of Star Alliance, operating network synergies with its partners from Incheon, and Incheon Airport’s Alex Lee says the airport is working hard, as it is with Korean and its partner airlines, to group both alliances in their own areas of the airport.
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