The expansion, effective from Aug. 14, includes flights from New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco to various Chinese destinations such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. This move increases the total number of interline routes between the two carriers from 13 to 25.
Industry observers say while Air Premia aims to maximize revenue by tapping into Chinese travel demand, Korean Air appears to be seeking to address monopoly concerns raised by U.S. competition authorities during its ongoing merger process with Asiana Airlines, by maintaining market competition on trans-Pacific routes.
