Asiana Airlines Inc. (Hangul: ; RR: Asiana Hanggong; KRX: 020560; formerly Seoul Airlines) is one of South Korea's two major airlines, along with Korean Air. Asiana has its headquarters in Asiana Town in Osoe-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul.^[1] The airline has its domestic hub at Gimpo International Airport and its international hub at Incheon International Airport (70 kilometres (43 mi) from central Seoul).

Asiana is a member of the Star Alliance and offers 516 daily departures throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania, operating 14 domestic and 85 international passenger routes and 20 cargo routes.^[2]

In 2010, Asiana was named the airline with the best in-flight service in the world by Global Travelers magazine, which was the sixth honor for Asiana in as many years. Asiana is also rated the best airline in Northern Asia of 2010. Its MAGIC shows, food created by chefs and other unique services helped it score well with 31,500 experts, passengers and other voters. Asiana also won the prestigious Airline of the Year Award by Skytrax for 2010.^[3] Asiana Airlines is one of the seven airlines to be ranked as a 5-star airline by the independent research consultancy firm Skytrax.^[4]

History

Asiana was established on 17 February 1988 and started operations in December 1988 with flights to Busan. It was formed by the Kumho Asiana Group (formerly Kumho Group) as part of the South Korean government's policy to create a second flag carrier and was originally known as Seoul Air International. The South Korean government has given its approval for foreign ownership of the airline to increase from 20% to 50%. The airline is owned by private investors (30.53%), Kumho Industrial (29.51%), Kumho Petrochemical (15.05%), foreign investors (11.9%), Korea Development Bank (7.18%), and others (5.83%). It employs 7,799 staff (at March 2007).^[5]

Asiana Airlines has rapidly expanded since its establishment in 1988 to become a midsized, global carrier with a fleet of 69 aircraft providing international services to 66 cities in 21 countries on 82 routes, and domestic services to 12 cities on 15 routes. In 2007, the airline had net sales of some US$3 billion.^[6]

New image

On February 2006, Asiana Airlines modernised its corporate identity to harmonise with those of other divisions of its parent company the Kumho Asiana Group. The names of the travel classes have changed from First Class, Business Class, and Economy Class to First, Business, and Travel classes respectively, and the colors of the travel classes have changed to yellow, blue and red for First, Business, and Travel Class, respectively. New uniforms are also planned for the crew.^[7]

On 18 April 2007, Skytrax awarded Asiana the prestigious five-star ranking, an accolade shared with Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Kingfisher Airlines.^[8] On 17 February 2009, Air Transport World awarded Asiana the "Airline of the Year", which is considered one of the most honorable awards in the airline industry.

Notable achievements

• Asiana was awarded first in class certification by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for meeting criteria ISO 14001 in 1996.^[9]
• In 2001 Asiana Airlines was designated as the first environmentally friendly company within the service industry by the Ministry of Environment Republic of Korea.^[10]

• In 2009 Asiana was awarded the title Airline of the Year by Air Transport World (ATW).^[11]
• In May 2010, Asiana Airlines was named the best airline in the world by Skytrax at the 2010 World Airline Awards.^[12]

Destinations

Asiana Airlines serves destinations on four continents with a well-developed Asian network covering that also takes in important cities in China, Japan, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. The airline serves a number of gateway cities in North America and Europe while retaining its limited coverage of Oceania.

Codeshare agreements

The airline has codeshare agreements with the following airlines (as of 28 July 2010).^[13] * indicates a Star Alliance member.

Fleet

The Asiana Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft with Asiana Cargo - the airline's freight division:^[2][14][15]

• The first of four Boeing 747400 combi to full freighter conversions has been delivered from Bedek Aviation Group, part of Israel Aerospace Industries. The second delivery will be later in 2007, with the other two conversions due for delivery in early 2009^[18]
• The average Asiana Airlines fleet age was 8.2 years old in October 2010.^[19]
• Asiana Airlines will return all of its leased Boeing 747400 passenger aircraft, while it has a plan to convert three Boeing 747-400M to freighters. In order to compensate for the loss of these passenger jets, Asiana will introduce two Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. Asiana plans discussions with Boeing in September for further aircraft procurement.^{[citation needed]}
• Asiana assigns Hong Kong, Saipan and Taipei to its Southeast Asia grouping.^[20][21]
• All Boeing 737400 aircraft of Asiana will be received by Air Busan after retire from Asiana until 2010.

Frequent flyer programme

Asiana Club is Asiana Airline's frequent flyer programme, formerly Asiana Bonus Club. Asiana Club has five tiers: Silver, Gold, Diamond, Diamond Plus and Platinum. To acquire or maintain each tier, members are required to accrue 0, 20000, 40000, 100000 miles in two calendar years from the 'reference date'. Status miles are based on 'On-board mileage', which includes miles accumulated by traveling with Asiana Airlines or Star Alliance airlines. Also, members can accrue miles by flying 'partner airlines' such as Qatar Airlines. Miles accumulated in the programme entitle members to bonus tickets, class upgrades and other products and services such as dining at Outback Steakhouse.^[22]

Partners

Asiana Club Miles can be collected on all flights operated by Star Alliance member airlines, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, and Eva Airways.^[23]

Marketing

Asiana has endorsement deals with the following:

• Park Ji-Sung ^[24] Manchester United star
• KJ Choi ^[24] Professional golfer
• Yong-Eun Yang ^[24] Professional golfer
• Chan-Ho Park ^[24] ex-MLB pitcher

Incidents and accidents

• On 26 July 1993, Asiana Airlines Flight 733, a Boeing 737-500 (HL7229) crashed in poor weather about 4 kilometres short of the runway in Mokpo while making its third landing attempt on runway 06 at Mokpo Airport. Two of the 6 crew members and 66 of the 110 passengers on board were killed.^[25]
• On 11 November 1998, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 747-400 attempting a U-Turn in the gate area of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport embedded its winglet into an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62M tail. No one was injured. Asiana was subsequently sued by Aeroflot. The Il-62M in this incident is now retired and is parked at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport with the Asiana winglet still embedded in its tail.^[26]

• On 19 August 2004, Asiana Airlines flight 204, a Boeing 747 flying into Los Angeles International Airport from Incheon, South Korea, had a near-collision with Southwest Airlines Flight 411, a Boeing 737, as a result of an air-traffic control error. The pilot of the Asiana flight aborted the landing, saving both planes.^[27]
• On 29 April 2009, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777, flight 271, flying between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Incheon Airport (ICN), with 179 passengers and 16 crew aboard made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff from SEA after fire and smoke was seen coming from the left engine. The plane dumped fuel over Puget Sound before landing safely around 3:30 pm at Seatac. A compressor stall was later deemed to be the cause of the incident as of May 4, 2009.^[28]
• On 16 June 2011, Flight 324 operated by Airbus A321-200 HL7763 between Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, China and Incheon International Airport, South Korea was fired upon by two soldiers of the South Korean Marine Corps as it came into land at Incheon. A total of 99 rounds were discharged at the aircraft, which was out of range and made a safe landing without sustaining any damage. The soldiers had misidentified the aircraft as belonging to the North Korean military, and were acting on orders that gave them permission to engage without reference to senior officers, following the Bombardment of Yeonpyeong in November 2010.^[29]
• On 28 July 2011, Asiana Airlines Cargo Flight 991 bound for Shanghai Pudong Airport from Incheon Airport, operated by a Boeing 747-400F, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Jeju Island, South Korea, after reporting a fire in the cargo compartment.^[30]

See also

• Transport in South Korea
• List of companies of South Korea
• List of airlines of South Korea
• List of airports in South Korea
• List of Central, Far East, South, and Southwest airline holding companies

References

External links

• Asiana Airlines
• Asiana Cargo
• Asiana Airlines worldwide site
• SkyTrax World Airline of the year