S. Korean airline to resume flights on 19 int’l routes

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - South Korea’s national flag carrier Korean Air will reopen 19 international routes from the beginning of June, the company announced on Thursday.

In a statement, Korean Air said the decision was taken as demand grows following ease in coronavirus restrictions by many countries, according to Yonhap news agency.

The routes included Washington, D.C., Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Frankfurt, Singapore, Beijing and Kuala Lumpur.

The airline had reduced its flights by almost 90% in March due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The Korean Air flights were down to 55 per week on 13 international routes since the beginning of the outbreak in the country. The new operations from next month will mean flights running on 32 international destinations with 146 flights available.

The airlines would operate 900 flights on 110 routes before the pandemic.

The decision by Korean Air came a day after Anadolu Agency reported that Turkey's national flag carrier is mulling to resume domestic and international flights after a suspension due to coronavirus from June.

The Turkish Airlines has drafted a flight plan for June, July, and August.

According to the three-month flight plan starting in June, Turkish Airlines will fly to 22 destinations in 19 countries, including Canada, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Belarus, Israel, Kuwait, Georgia, and Lebanon, with a weekly frequency of 75 flights.

The airline is projected to operate 60% of domestic flights to all destinations, then to add destinations in July and August. The number of destinations and flight frequency on international routes will rise to 103 and 572, respectively, in July, and to 160 and 937 in August.