Asiana Airlines has launched the inaugural flights on its newest route: Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) to Melbourne Airport (MEL) in Australia.
The maiden flight for the seasonal route departed on December 26, 2023. The flights are to operate twice weekly, every Tuesdays and Thursdays up until February 2024, when summer ends in Australia.
According to a report from Australian media outlet The New Daily, 27,700 South Koreans arrived in Australia in September 2023, almost a 323% increase on the same period in 2022.
Meanwhile, the Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) has announced that more than 90,000 Australians visited South Korea between June 2022 and May 2023, a significant increase on the 75,000 visits during the same period in 2019.
The new flights will operate on the following schedule:
OZ6033 departs Incheon 08:00 local time and arrives in Melbourne 20:30 local time
OZ6043 departs Melbourne 22:00 local time and arrives in Incheon 06:40 local time
The flights are being operated by the airline’s fleet of Airbus A350-900 aircraft.
Melbourne airport’s Chief of Aviation Jim Parashos said: “Until now, Seoul was one of our largest unserved markets, with travelers forced to connect through other ports in Australia or Asia.”
“These direct services will mean passengers and Victorian exporters can avoid the cost and inconvenience of transiting through another city to reach South Korea,” Parashos added.
Parashos also declared that Melbourne had become the first Australian capital city airport to exceed its 2019 international seat capacity, and that Asiana’s arrival will further boost its numbers.
“This is testament to the efforts of teams at both Melbourne Airport and the Victorian State Government, who have worked in partnership to secure capacity as airlines brought aircraft back into service,” Parashos said.
