Korean Air will roll down the shutters on its Melbourne-Seoul route next year.
A spokesperson for Korean Air confirmed to Australian Business Traveller this morning that the KE125/126 flight, which runs three times per week between Melbourne and the South Korean capital, will close from March 2013.
The airline says that passengers already booked on those flights will be offered a Qantas domestic flight to/from Melbourne to connect with Korean Air's Sydney-Seoul services.
"As part of our plan for affected ticket holders, one night’s accommodation will be provided in Sydney for misconnecting flights when departing / exiting Australia".
"All reissue fees will be waived for these ticketed passengers wishing to reroute via Sydney on Qantas, and all refund penalties will be waived for ticketed passengers on KE125/ KE126 services that were scheduled to operate after March 3rd, 2013.
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
12 Nov 2012
Total posts 13
Was the load factors really that bad on this service? I thought that it would be good having another airlineto Europe and USA. Then again with MEL being a bit more south than BNE, Melbournites may not like going more north.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
25 May 2012
Total posts 580
I'm actually intrigued that they can maintain service to Brisbane but not Melbourne.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 May 2011
Total posts 362
Koreans love the sun!
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
10 Jan 2012
Total posts 259
And KE fly ICN-BNE-ICN 5x per week (increasing to 6x next year I beleive) on an A330-300. Compared to the 3x pw A330-200 to MEL, we get a pretty sizeable capacity increase each week.
There are a lot of Korean students studying in/around Brisbane, and KE seems to be a popular option to Europe and north Asia for Brisbanites, but it is surprising they couldn't keep up MEL.
08 Mar 2012
Total posts 26
It may have more to do with Tourist to Australia factor rather than Australian Outbound demand. Brisbane will attract those coming to go Gold Coast/Cairns. My guess only though!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
12 Nov 2012
Total posts 13
Alot of people like to travel use KE to travel to the USA and Europe, their fares are sometimes quite competitve! I have used KE as an option alot for my clients :)
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
01 Mar 2012
Total posts 177
I guess they do like the sun. I saw a KE A330 at Cairns airport this afternoon with plenty of Koreans around. I flew them to Europe from SYD last year, I was quite impressed and would fly them again.
22 Mar 2012
Total posts 200
Not really surprised by this... Melbourne-Seoul seemed like a dud route to me...
13 Feb 2011
Total posts 30
The increased flights to Brisbane would explain the new saturation radio advertising promoting Korean Air as the best way to travel to Europe with kids. (It promotes the benfits of the included hotel stay in Seoul on the way over.)
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