Here’s our weekly roundup of new air routes and codeshare partnerships
Korean Air expands network to Japan and China
Korean Air will resume its Seoul Incheon-Kumamoto service from November 24, as well as introduce a new service from Seoul Incheon to Fuzhou, China from December 28.
The airline will commence daily flights on the Seoul Incheon-Kumamoto route after a 27-year suspension due to the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Korean Air has also increased frequency on the Seoul Incheon to Okayama and Kagoshima routes, while also resuming the Seoul Incheon-Nagasaki route with four weekly flights.
Meanwhile, its new service from Seoul Incheon to Fuzhou will operate three times a week, flying on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Korean Air currently flies daily from Seoul Incheon to Xiamen, and operates four weekly flights to Kunming.
Hong Kong Airlines introduces new daily direct service to Chiang Mai
Hong Kong Airlines has inaugurated its new daily direct service to Chiang Mai, Thailand on October 27.
This new route marks the airline’s third destination in Thailand, joining Bangkok and Phuket, with daily flights now available.
The launch coincides perfectly with Thailand’s Loy Krathong (Festival of Light) in November, allowing travellers to experience the vibrant parades and celebrations.
Vietjet launches Danang-Ahmedabad service
Vietjet has commenced its direct service connecting Vietnam’s Danang to Ahmedabad in India.
The new service offers two round-trip flights per week. Travellers from North-east and South-east Asia can now transit through Danang more easily to reach India’s major cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, and now Ahmedabad, via Vietjet’s extensive network.
The airline has plans to launch new routes connecting Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur and Nha Trang to Daegu, as well as resume the Ho Chi Minh City-Tainan route, and increase flight frequencies throughout the region.
Air India, Singapore Airlines add 51 new codeshare destinations
Air India and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have expanded their codeshare agreement, adding 11 Indian cities and another 40 international destinations to their network.
From October 27, Air India and SIA will codeshare on each other’s flights between Singapore and the Indian cities of Bengaluru and Chennai, increasing their total weekly scheduled codeshare services between the countries to 56 from 14.
SIA will codeshare on Air India’s domestic flights between Delhi and Amritsar, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Lucknow, and Varanasi, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Goa, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Thiruvananthapuram, as well as between Kolkata and Guwahati.
Air India customers will be able to access 29 destinations across SIA’s network. These are Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney (Australia), Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (Cambodia), Denpasar, Jakarta, Medan, and Surabaya (Indonesia), Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo-Haneda, and Tokyo-Narita (Japan), Busan and Seoul (South Korea), Kuala Lumpur and Penang (Malaysia), Auckland (New Zealand), Cebu and Manila (the Philippines), as well as Danang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). This includes existing codeshare arrangements to Kuala Lumpur.
SIA customers will also be able to connect to Air India’s international services from Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai to 12 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. These are Copenhagen (Denmark), Paris (France), Frankfurt (Germany), Milan (Italy), Nairobi (Kenya), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Jeddah and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Colombo (Sri Lanka), as well as Birmingham, London-Gatwick, and London-Heathrow (the UK).
Subject to regulatory approvals, the codeshare flights will be progressively made available for sale through the airlines’ respective booking channels.