Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
Korean Air, Asiana phasing out 1st class services
Korea's two full-service carriers, Korean Air, left, and Asiana Airlines, will reduce or halt operations of its first class cabins to cut cost as demand for the highest price seats has been on the decline. Courtesy of Korean Air, Asiana Airlines
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
Local full-service carriers will halt operation of their first class cabins and instead increase the number of economy and business class seats, as more consumers have shown to favor lower prices over paying extra for higher quality services.
Korean Air to reduce first class seats from June
Starting June, Korean Air will halt its first class services on many of its international routes to reduce costs because the demand for the premium service is declining and it will be more profitable to increase the number of available seats in business class and economy class.
Korean Air has provided three travel classes ― economy, prestige and first class ― on 62 of its 111 international routes, while operating prestige and economy class cabins on the remaining routes.
Following the adjustments, only 35 routes will offer first class cabin services.
The carrier will remodel its aircrafts to replace the first class seats with prestige and economy class ones.
The top-class services will continue for long-haul flights such as the Americas and Europe, except for two Canadian cities ― Vancouver and Toronto ― and four European routes ― Barcelona, Madrid, Istanbul and Zagreb.
The airline plans to stop its first class services on mostly shorter routes such as China, Japan and Southeast Asia, with some exceptions.
For China, Korean Air will remove the seats on its 27 routes except for flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei.
For Japan, first class cabins will be removed on 12 routes, except for a couple of flights to Haneda, Narita, Osaka and Nagoya.
Asiana to remove 1st class seats by September
Asiana Airlines announced it would remove first-class cabins for all its international routes to cut costs ahead of its planned sale.
Starting September, business class cabins will replace the first-class cabins with a 30 to 40 percent cheaper price tag than the top class seats.
The airline has been operating three travel classes ― first, business and economy class.
The first class seats have been offered on long-haul routes such as Los Angeles, New York and Frankfurt, Asiana said.
Starting July 8, the airline will also suspend operations of the non-profitable routes to Khabarovsk, Sakhalin and Delhi.
To ensure safer flights, the airline plans to adopt new aircraft including 19 Airbus A350s and 15 A321 Neos to its fleet by 2023. Asiana currently has 85 planes that include six A380s.
The removal of the first-class cabins and restructuring of its routes comes as the airline has been put up for sale due to the parent Kumho Asiana Group's mounting debt.
In mid-April, Kumho Group decided to surrender its 33.47 percent stake in Asiana in exchange for a creditors' rescue package worth 1.6 trillion won. Asiana's sales account for nearly 60 percent of the group's total.