While passenger traffic between the United States and China has been up more than 10% annually in recent years, Korean Air has experienced a 55% year-on-year growth in the number of passengers it carries between the two countries. Korean Air is focusing on traffic to China and has declared the country is its second home market, and expects this growth to continue through 2010. Trans-Pacific traffic as a whole has increased 5% annually, half the growth rate of China traffic.
“There are not enough planes and seats to China to meet market demand,” Jackson says. “But Korean Air has been planning for this China activity for a long time and has enough planes on order to fill as they become part of our fleet.”
This fall the airline will launch an extensive television and print advertising campaign designed to make Korean Air America’s preferred carrier to China. American carriers routes to destinations in China are allocated by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Korean Air is not subject to these restrictions, giving it an advantage over U.S. domestic carriers.
Korean Air serves over twenty cities in China, and plans to add more next year.The airline operates over 80 passenger flights per week to Asia from 12 North American gateways including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington D.C. The 123 aircraft fleet serves 114 cities in 37 countries.
For reservations and additional information, see http://koreanair.com.
