European route strategy for Korean air carriers

Abstract

The airlines of the Asia Pacific region have grown much more rapidly than airlines in other parts of the world over the last 25 years or so. Korean air carriers have grown rapidly too. With a state of the art airport and an extensive network of routes linking fast growing economies in the region, prospects are bright for the Korean air transport industry in Korea. The European market is especially promising because it already well established but not yet saturated.The traffic between Korea and Europe is growing fast and will reach capacity limitations on routes between Korea and three major destinations (London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt International). This thesis forecasts traffic development on routes linking Seoul with those destinations, provides a comprehensive overview of the latest EU regulatory development regarding air services agreement and slot allocation, gives an in-depth analysis of operations between Korea and Europe, and recommends actions for the Korean Government and the Korean national carriers to optimize the future development of operations between Korea and Europe. The study shows that the current level of operation barely satisfies demand for passenger air transport between Seoul and European destinations and does not allow Korean air carriers to fully develop their role as sixth freedom operators. The use of very large aircraft, which will be available in 2006, is a simple and short term solution to cover the increased demand in the market. Developing new schedule windows to add additional frequencies is the next task to be accomplished. Since the new schedule window requires serious coordination with the numerous entities involved in the transport market, such as airlines, governments, airports and tour agencies, the role of the Korean Government as a facilitator and key player is very important to achieve success.