By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Korea's two national flag carriers are introducing state-of-the-art in-flight facilities.
Asiana Airlines adopted a new A330-300 aircraft on its Seoul-Tokyo route last Sunday. The plane operates between Gimpo and Haneda airports for two daily services.
The new flight has 30 business and 260 economy seats.
The space between seats in business class is 58 inches, and they are elongated to 165 degrees.
The size of personal LCD monitors in business class is 15.4 inches diagonally, slightly larger than the previous 15 inches. Those in economy class have increased to 10.6 inches from 6.4 inches.
The audio and video on demand (AVOD) system of the in-flight entertainment program has also been upgraded, with better resolution and faster speed.
The lavatory in business class has a higher ceiling and a window to make passengers feel more comfortable.
Besides the newly adopted plane, the carrier finished upgrading in-flight facilities of its 16 aircrafts with the same interior in February. The aircrafts cover almost all international routes and are expected to satisfy passengers' needs for comfort.
The adoption of the new plane to the Japanese city is part of the airline's strategy to focus on the golden route, where flights have been filled to 90 percent of capacity on average for the first four months of this year.
``The number of Japanese travelers to Korea keeps increasing. We'll take the lead in service between the two countries by providing them with the best cabins,'' an Asiana official said.