Asiana Airlines will resume operations on some international routes, including those in America, Southeast Asia and China, which is reduced due to the COVID-19 outbreak, starting in June.
Asiana Airlines will resume 13 international flights from June and operate 57 more weekly flights to prepare for the easing of global restrictions on entry and to revive the sluggish aviation market and boost profitability, a company spokesman said on May 14.
First of all, the 12 routes to China, the main route, will be resumed first from June. Currently, China plans to allow immediate flight operation through advance preparation, although the timing of the operation may change due to the travel restriction measures.
Southeast Asian routes will increase the number of Vietnamese flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh from three a week to seven a week, while Cambodia's Phnom Penh and the Philippines' Manila will increase the number of flights from three a week to four a week.
It also plans to operate three times a week on Singapore's route in hopes of lifting travel restrictions.
For the route to the Americas, it will resume service in 77 days. Considering the demand for cargo, it plans to increase the number of flights on the Seattle route to three times a week to make efforts to revive demand for routes to the Americas. It will increase the number of flights to Frankfurt from three a week to four a week.
Asiana Airlines plans to resume operations on some routes in June, raising its current operating rate, which stands at 8 percent, to 17 percent.
An Asiana Airlines official said, "The recovery of international passenger demand is still a long way off due to the COVID-19, but we have decided to resume operations of some international routes for major business users, such as business trips and official duties."
He added, "We will continue to decide on additional routes by analyzing the recovery trend of demand for each route in the future."
