Korean Air Mission Brings Airport News, Asia Reps
Incheon International Airport of Seoul, South Korea has repeatedly earned Skytrax honours as one of the world’s top airports, as well as a #1 ranking as the world’s best transit airport – facts that were celebrated at a recent travel trade dinner in Vancouver hosted by Korean Airlines.
As well, the Airports Council International (ACI) recently recognized Incheon with a top ranking (Level 5) of its Airport Customer Experience Accreditation program. Incheon Airport is the first airport in the world to achieve this top level of accreditation.
The dinner event was held at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown in Burnaby, and also featured presentations by reps from some of the key destinations in Asia. These included Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan – all brought the latest tourism news from each of these destinations.
Incheon Airport is building on its profile as the world’s number one transit airport with the opening of two hotels at the airport – between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 – that are for transit passengers only.
These can be booked for short stays of, for example, six hours for $50 to 60$. A “capsule” hotel as also open at Incheon, where tiny rooms can be booked for as little as $20 to $30 for three hours of rest.
Terminal 2 is used by Korean Air (KE) and other SkyTeam airlines, including Air France (AF), KLM (KL), Delta Airlines (DL), China Airlines (CI), Garuda Indonesia (GA), Xiamen Airlines (MF) and Aeromexico (AM).
Terminal 1 is used by Asiana Airlines (OZ), Lufthansa (LH), Malaysia Airlines (MH), Singapore Airlines (SQ), Emirates (EK), Etihad (EY), Air China (CA), Qatar Airways (QR), Cathay Pacific (CX), Thai Airways (TG), low-cost carriers and all other airlines.
Incheon’s popular transit tour and stopover tour programs, in which transiting passengers can book local tours, had been put on hold during the pandemic, but will resume soon. January 2023 is the restart date for these tour programs.
Newly on offer will be a five-hour tour of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, established as part of the armistice by the two countries. Information on this and other tours is at: kstopover.com
Korean Airlines operates daily flights from Vancouver YVR and five flights per week from Toronto YYZ. A B787-9 Dreamliner is used on the routes, with 24 business class suites and 245 economy class seats.
Douglas Yiu, sales manager for Korean Air, said the airline does not offer a premium economy class cabin because the generous seat pitch built into the economy class seats eliminates the need for premium economy seating.
Go to www.koreanair.com for more.
In The Photo
Korean Airlines recently hosted an event at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown in Burnaby, in which presenters from both the airline and popular Asian tourist destinations took part. In attendance were (l. to r.) Stacey Ko, manager at Korean Air; Jayne Yeo, Americas manager of MICE and leisure for the Singapore Tourism Board; Eric Hwang, country manager for Korean Air; Gregory Yap, Americas VP for the Singapore Tourism Board; Douglas Yiu, manager of Korean Air; Ann Leong, marketing executive for Tourism Malaysia Canada; Soleil Tropicales, director of Philippines Tourism USA; and James Chi, marketing specialist for the Taiwan Tourism Bureau in Vancouver.
