South Korea is the country that is the most affected by the novel coronavirus after mainland China. Because of this, airlines have been reducing and/or cancelling flights to the country. However the country's flag carrier, Korean Air, has changed their flight schedules to flights across the world. This includes cancellations of services, reductions, and aircraft changes, which takes into effect on March 29, 2020.
Cancellations
Korean Air will cancel the following services. Most of the international flights by the airline from Busan, in southeastern Korea, along with other several services from Seoul-Incheon have been canceled. Some Busan services are set to be cancelled until the end of the summer. These include:
From Busan: Bangkok, Da Nang, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Taipei-Taoyuan, and Tokyo-Narita
From Seoul-Incheon: Da Lat, Kagoshima, Komatsu, Milan, Niigata, Tel Aviv, Zagreb
Service Reductions
Korean Air will be reducing these services. All of the reduced services originate from Incheon Airport, with most of these being flights to Asia. These include:
From Seoul-Incheon: Boston (5 to 3 weekly), Brisbane (5 to 4 weekly), Nha Trang (7 to 4 weekly), Chicago-O'Hare (7 to 5 weekly), Dallas-Ft. Worth (5 to 3 weekly), Da Nang (2 to 1 daily), Dubai (7 to 5 weekly), Guam (14 to 7 weekly), Hanoi (3 to 2 daily), Ho Chi Minh City (3 to 2 daily), Hong Kong (5 to 2 daily), Istanbul (5 to 3 weekly), Kuala Lumpur (7 to 4 weekly), Madrid (4 to 3 weekly), Moscow-Sheremetyevo (5 to 4 weekly), New York-JFK (14 to 7 weekly), Okayama (7 to 4 weekly), San Francisco (2 to 1 daily), Singapore (21 to 10 weekly), Taipei-Taoyuan (2 to 1 daily), Vienna (5 to 4 weekly), Washington-Dulles (7 to 5 weekly)
Aircraft Changes
Korean Air is set to use smaller aircraft for these services from Seoul. Several of them will occur before March 29th. Some of these services are:
From Seoul-Gimpo: Osaka-Kansai (737-900s replacing 777-200s)
From Seoul-Incheon: Atlanta (777-300s replaces 747-8s, 8 March-28 March), Delhi (787-9s replaces A330-300s), Los Angeles (747-8s replaces A380s, 1 March-5 March), New York-JFK (777-300s replace 747-8s, 1 March-28 March)
Summary
In summary, Korean Air has changed their services as the coronavirus continues to spread in South Korea. They are forced to cancel and reduce their services, as well as make several aircraft reductions on their international flights.
Do you think Korean Air made a wise choice? Is it right for them to alter their services? Let us know in the comments below!
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