A homemade-style red ginseng tea is available on Korean Air flights.
The carrier Monday started offering red ginseng tea to passengers in the first and business classes on the Gimpo-Haneda route, and another kind of red ginseng drink to passengers in the economy class.
The service will be expanded to flights between Gimpo and China's Hongqiao, which are scheduled to launch next month.
Instead of instant tea bags, the airline provides the tea after decocting red ginseng twice for more than six hours with pure underground water from Jeju Island.
Red ginseng, one of the nation's representative health foods, has three times more efficacy than ordinary ginseng. It is said to be good for diabetes and stomach-related diseases, as well as to improve immunity, speed up metabolism, and help recover energy.
A traditional Korean desert made of dried persimmon and walnut is also offered to first class passengers, and economy class passengers can have another type of red ginseng drink.
``Korean Air has developed Korean-style, well-being in-flight meals such as `bibimbap' and `bibim noodle.' We expect the homemade-style, quality tea will gain popularity among Japanese and Chinese passengers,'' a Korean Air official said.