Korean Air said today that it will reduce more flights to Japan in the coming months due to weaker travel demand amid a trade dispute.
Last month, the airline announced it was fully suspending services on the Busan-Osaka route on 16 September and flights on the Jeju-Narita and the Jeju-Osaka routes on 1 November.
To offset lower demand to Japan, Korean Air said it will increase the number of flights to China, Southeast Asia and Oceania nations, such as Guam, Australia and New Zealand.
The airline will also temporarily halt services on the Incheon-Komatsu and Incheon-Kagoshima routes from 29 September to 16 November, while suspending flights on the Incheon-Asahikawa route from 29 September to 26 October.
Korean Air also plans to reduce the number of flights on the Incheon-Osaka, Incheon-Fukuoka from 27 October to 16 November and flights on the Incheon-Okinawa, Busan-Narita and Busan-Fukuoka routes from 29 September to 16 November.
The airline will launch a new route on 27 October from Seoul Incheon to Clark International Airport in the Philippines and increase flights on non-Japan routes from Incheon to Danang, Chiang Mai, Bali and Brisbane. It will also add charter routes to flights to Amman, Jordan & Cairo, Egypt from September to February 2020.
Korean Air has also reported that despite robust passenger growth – higher costs and a weaker cargo market, led to its net loss widening to 415 billion won ($343 million) in the six months ending 30 June. The carrier posted a 252.2 billion won loss for the same period a year earlier.
Revenue increased 0.6 per cent to 6.1 trillion won, and passenger revenue grew by 4.1 per cent year-on-year. Traffic increased three per cent while capacity grew by 1.2 per cent and yield rose by 1.1 per cent.
