Asiana Airlines to capitalise on the India opportunity
After a hiatus of almost three years, the airline resumed its India operations earlier this year in April. TTJ spoke with Song Jung Sub, Regional Manager - Delhi Station for Asiana Airlines, to know the airline’s route map for the future.
Having operated in the India market for almost two decades, Asiana Airlines bid adieu to its India operations due to strategic reasons in 2019, much before the COVID-19 pandemic had tightened its grip on the world. On April 29, 2022, Asiana Airlines resumed operations with its twice-a-week operations between Seoul and New Delhi instead of the daily service that it had earlier. Song mentions, “India was always on our radar and our two decades of operations earlier in this market gave us a deep understanding of its behaviour and market dynamics, so as the opportune time came we resumed our India operations.”
“India is a growing market, it has an active aging population and great purchase power, Asiana Airlines has a great network and convenient connections into China, Japan, and Trans-Pacific into the United States of America so it is a very important market for us,” says Song.
Currently operating with the twin-aisle Airbus 330 in a two-class configuration, Asiana is even considering the introduction of Airbus 350 on this route and working towards the possibility of increasing the flights from the current two to four a week in the near future.
China is yet to open up its doors but the business traffic between India and Korea and India and Japan is already on the rise. Asiana Airlines offers great Trans-Pacific connectivity to West coast American cities of Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York on the East coast. Connections are good from Seoul. However, in the case of longer layovers, Asiana Airlines is looking at the possibility of offering lounge access to the passengers.
“We understand the special food requirements for our Indian guests, including vegetarian meals and Jain meals, and can very well cater to these requests,” mentions Song. He further adds, “We have a great product and great service, however the biggest challenge that we face currently is for the market to know that we are back with the resumption of our services and our future commitment to the market.”