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Korean air carriers will raise ticket prices up to 15 percent for flights to United States, Australia and Europe, starting next month. Korean Air Lines Co., the Korea’s biggest carrier, said it will increase ticket prices by 10 percent for all flights to the United States and five percent for some flights to Europe. The ticket price increase won’t be applied to some European destinations such as Italy, the Netherlands and Austria, the air carrier said on its website.
The air carrier will raise the price of tickets for all three cabin classes — first, prestige and economy — of flights heading to the United States, it added. According to the new price list officially notified by the air carrier, a return ticket price between Incheon and Los Angeles will be raised from 1.51 million won to 1.66 million won. Asiana Airlines, another major air carrier, said it will also raise ticket prices for flights to the United States and Europe by 5-15 percent.
It will increase its first and business class tickets bound for Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco by 15 percent while adding 10 percent to its economy class tickets. The air carrier plans to raise ticket prices for European cities by 5-10 percent and 5-15 percent for flights heading for Australia. Feeling pressures from customers, air carriers stressed that they are merely raising the price cap of the fares. Officials say that the actual ticket price will be adjusted depending on market conditions, sales channels and options.
Air carriers claimed that the fare increases are inevitable and they have minimized the level of increases. "Air fares for international flights have been frozen since December 2006," an industry source said. Korean air carriers have reported losses since the final quarter of 2008 due to a significant decrease in the number of passengers traveling overseas and a weak won.
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