Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways ― the three fast-growing airlines based in the Persian Gulf ―are expanding in South Korea to lure new customers, particularly coveted transit passengers traveling to Europe and the United States.
In their latest push, aviation officials from the United Arab Emirates visited Seoul on Wednesday to ask their Korean counterparts to open up more flights between the two countries.
Emirates and Etihad each operate seven flights per week to their respective hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. According to industry sources, the UAE hopes in particular to more than double the number of flights for the lucrative Incheon-Dubai route.
“UAE officials are pushing hard to increase the number of flights, citing enhanced economic cooperation between the two countries such as Korea’s construction of nuclear power plants,” said a Transport Ministry official on condition of anonymity.
“But for Korea, it’s not an easy decision considering that its flag carrier Korean Air is struggling to fill up the seats.”
Even now there is a clear discrepancy between Emirates and Korean Air that operate seven and five flights to Dubai, respectively.
While Emirates, the largest among the Gulf carriers, flies the 519-seat A380 jumbo aircraft on the route, the passenger capacity of Korean Air’s A330 is only 218 seats. Moreover, the occupancy rate for Emirates is 78 percent, compared to Korean Air’s 57 percent.
The stark difference is attributed to a number of factors.
The Persian Gulf is located within an eight-hour direct flight from Asia as well as Europe and the United States. Thanks to the geographical benefits, almost 90 percent of the Incheon-Dubai route customers are transit passengers.
But for Korean Air, whose hub city is Incheon, most of the customers are direct fliers.
“Considering the lukewarm sales (of the route), it would be meaningless to have more operational rights for us,” said a Korean Air official.
Armed with new and fancier aircrafts, along with cheaper tickets, the Gulf carriers are putting new destinations on their route maps at a staggering speed and offering more attractive options for customers.
Increased investment is expected as their home countries have made it government policy to diversify the economy beyond oil with the development of strong aviation companies.
Along with Etihad and Emirates, the Doha-based Qatar Airways has also held several meetings with Korean authorities. Its CEO Akabar Al Baker recently hinted at upping the ante in the Korean market, pinpointing the nation’s protectionism as the key stumbling block to do so.
