Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) passengers traveling between Atlanta and Seoul, South Korea, will be able to codeshare on nonstop flights three times per week offered by Deltas SkyTeam partner Korean Air beginning Tuesday, May 21, 2002. The new flights will connect North Americas largest single airline hub -- Atlanta -- with the newest airline hub in Asia -- Seoul
(Incheon).
Earlier this month, Delta started codesharing on Korean Air flights from Anchorage, New York (JFK), Los Angeles, Washington (Dulles), Chicago, Honolulu and San Francisco to Seoul (Incheon), South Korea, and from Los Angeles to Narita, Japan. Delta also codeshares on Korean Air flights from Seoul to Osaka and Tokyo (Narita), Japan. Within Korea, Delta codeshares on flights to
Busan.
Seouls Incheon airport is located between two key aviation routes the North Pacific air route linking Southeast Asia, as well as the North America and Siberian air routes, connecting Northeast Asia and Europe. The airport offers greater connection options in the Asia-Pacific region than any other airport in the area. As the geographic center of the region, the airport is almost equidistant about two hours from Beijing and Tokyo. More than 55 major cities are within a four-hour flight and more than 1 billion people reside within 620 miles of Incheon.
SkyTeam members AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta and Korean Air provide a route network concentrated in the most competitive markets where nearly 80 percent of airline travelers want to fly.
The six carriers offer frequent flyers the opportunity to earn miles when flying any of the member airlines. These miles can be exchanged for rewards (such as tickets on any SkyTeam airline). Furthermore, top-tier flyers on each of the alliance airlines automatically attain SkyTeam Elite and Elite Plus status with enhanced benefits that are additional to all member airlines current frequent flyer program offerings. SkyTeam Elite members receive priority waitlist for reservations and at the airport, as well as separate check-in.
Customers with Elite Plus status qualify for the aforementioned benefits as well as guaranteed economy-class reservations, priority baggage handling, and access to more than 300 SkyTeam airport lounges for international trips, regardless of travel class.
Delta customers will benefit from significant increases in flight frequencies and connecting opportunities to the major destinations in Asia and the Pacific rim with the reinstatement of the codeshare with Korean Air.
Korean Air, with a fleet of 121 aircraft, is one of the world's top 20 airlines and operates almost 400 passenger flights per day to 83 cities in 29 countries.
Delta Air Lines, the worlds second largest carrier in terms of passengers carried and the leading U.S. airline across the Atlantic, offers 5,696 flights each day to 417 destinations in 73 countries on Delta, Delta Express, Delta Shuttle, Delta Connection and Deltas worldwide partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services.
SkyTeam is the global airline alliance partnering Aeromxico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Korean Air. Through one of the worlds most extensive hub networks, SkyTeam offers its 221 million annual passengers a worldwide system of approximately 8,000 daily flights covering all major destinations. |