South Korean long-haul startup Air Premia announces its first operations to the West Coast of the United States with service between Seoul – Incheon (ICN) – Los Angeles (LAX) with three weekly flights starting October 5.
The South Korean startup will operate non-stop services to Singapore (SIN) and Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) and is currently operating charter flights to Ankara, Turkey (ESB), one of the company’s main objectives is to offer passengers new travel options at affordable prices.
Air Premia will be the first low-cost hybrid carrier to offer a non-stop route between South Korea and North America, a market that is highly competitive among legacy carriers such as Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Air Canada, Delta, American and United. The airline intends to attract leisure and VFR (friends and/or family visiting) travelers.
According to data obtained by Aviacionline through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) 5,732,598 passengers were mobilized in 2019 between the United States and Seoul – Incheon (ICN); the Korean capital was the second largest Asian market in the American nation.
Flight Itinerary.
- Seoul Incheon – Los Angeles Flight YP 101 ICN 13:30 – LAX 08:20 Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Los Angeles – Seoul Incheon Flight YP 102 LAX 10:50 – ICN 16:20+1 Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
The route will be operated on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft with a capacity of 309 seats in two classes (56 Premium Economy/253 Economy) and promotional fares start at USD 1827.70 roundtrip. The airline expects to have five Dreamliners in its fleet by 2023.
According to data compiled by Aviacionline through the statistics center AirPortal moved 1,038,757 passengers and 154,005 tons of cargo in 4,996 air operations in 2019 between Seoul (ICN) and Los Angeles (LAX), it is the largest air market between the US and South Korea.
Recently in the East Asia and US West Coast segment, new low-cost carriers such as ZIPAIR Tokyo and now Air Premia have entered the market, for decades this market was always led by legacy airlines. Will we see more low-cost carriers in the transpacific market in the same way as in the transatlantic?
See also: ZIPAIR Tokyo inaugurated low-cost segment on Tokyo/Narita – Los Angeles route
