Korean Air will launch new flights to Clark, in the Philippines, and Nanjing, China on October 27, and Zhangjiajie and Hangzhou, China, on October 28.
From October 27, Korean Air will operate the Incheon-Clark route seven times a week, Incheon-Nanjing route four times a week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Sunday), and from October 28, the airline will operate the Incheon-Zhangjiajie route three times a week (Monday/Wednesday/Saturday) and Incheon-Hangzhou route twice a week (Monday/Friday).
Clark is a resort town on the central island of Luzon in the Philippines, which is about two hours by land from Manila, the capital city. The Puning Hot Springs and Subic Beach are well-known tourist destinations, and demand for tourism has been rising steadily recently.
Nanjing, China, is well-known as the center of electronics, petrochemical and automobile industries, with many Korean companies operating there, while Zhangjiajie is a leading tourist destination in China, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site due to its excellent natural scenery. Hangzhou is famous for its artificial lake, West Lake, and is also known as the center of China’s IT industry, as it is home to the headquarters of Alibaba, an e-commerce company.
In addition to the new services, Korean Air is also endeavoring to achieve route competitiveness and enhance profitability by expanding its capacity on Southeast Asia, China and Oceania routes, following the falling demand and capacity on Japanese routes.
In addition, Korean Air is also operating chartered flights on the Incheon-Athens/Amman/Cairo and Incheon-Auckland routes, and plans to provide more convenient schedules through the development of new routes to meet future customer demand.
| Date of launch |
Route | Frequency | Flight number |
Departure/ Arrival Time |
Fleet Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October
27 |
Incheon-Clark Clark-Incheon |
7 flights a week (One round trip everyday) |
KE635
KE636 |
0755/1105
1310/1810 |
A330-300 |
| Incheon-Nanjing Nanjing-Incheon |
4 flights a week (Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun) |
KE157
KE158 |
1040/1210
1315/1645 |
A330-300 | |
| October
28 |
Incheon-Hangzhou Hangzhou-Incheon |
2 flights a week (Mon/Fri) |
KE159
KE160 |
1215/1330
1440/1800 |
A330-300 |
| Incheon-Zhangjiajie Zhangjiajie-Incheon |
3 flights a week (Mon/Wed/Sat) |
KE163
KE164 |
1920/2220
2330/0340+1 |
B737-900ER |
Incheon-Nanjing route: From October 27 to November 29, the Boeing 737 will be used.
In other news, Korean Air operated a special flight to celebrate 50 years since its first international flight on October 2. The special flight, KE683, flew from Incheon, Korea to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Korean Air, founded on March 1, 1969, operated its first international flight in the same year, on October 2, from Seoul, Korea to Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh was the first international route operated by a Korean national airline, and 50 years later, Korean Air has grown into a global airline reaching 124 cities in 44 countries.
Korean Air held an event at Incheon Airport, during the flight, and at Ho Chi Minh Airport, to commemorate the airline’s first international flight and to thank its customers for their unwavering support over the past half a century.
The airline gave out gifts and special cookies designed with a 50th anniversary emblem at the boarding gate.
Onboard the KE683 flight, Korean Air prepared a special video to showcase the Ho Chi Minh route 50 years ago. The video showed old news clips of Korean Air in 1969 opening a new route to Southeast Asia, demonstrating its leap to the global stage by upholding its missions of enhancing the national brand and pursuing private diplomacy in Southeast Asia.
The flight attendants wearing vintage uniforms walked down the aisle like a fashion show, entertaining passengers by showcasing the changes in uniforms in the past 50 years.
