Oh Geun-nyung, head of Asiana Airlines’ Management Division, holds a certificate of the 2016Korea Standard Service Quality Index Award with Chairman Baek Soo-hyun of Korean Standards Association after he received it from the latter at Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Nov. 2. (Photo: Asiana Airlines)

Asiana Airlines, setting this year’s management task to “go back to what made it successful some 70 years ago” is striving to become a world-class airline leader.

Asiana Airlines is strengthening its business capabilities to survive the fierce competition of the global aviation industry. To this end, the airliner has been focusing on such projects as the inauguration of new routes, expanding flights, introducing more advanced aircrafts and the establishment of the low-cost carrier Air Seoul. 

As an example of its rising domestic and global standing, Asiana Airlines has topped the airline category in the Korean Standard-Service Quality Index (KS-SQI) this year for the seventh consecutive year. The KS-SQI is a comprehensive service quality index of customers using Korean service companies’ products and services, jointly developed by the Korea Standards Association and Seoul National University Management Research Institute in 2000.

In the international passenger segment, Asiana Airlines is now operating 83 flight routes to 69 cities in 23 countries as well as 10 domestic routes in 10 cities in Korea.

The airliner inaugurated the Incheon-Sapporo route with seven flights weekly in July. It has increased the number of the flights to Delhi, India, and Rome from three times to five times weekly. Asiana Airlines launched chartered flights to Budapest, Hungary, between July and August. The airliner is to inaugurate non-regular flights to Christchurch, New Zealand, in December.

Starting at the end of October, Asiana Airlines is operating a domestic flight between Incheon and Busan for exclusive use of transfer passengers. The aircraft is designed to target passengers to and from Gimhae International Airport, one of the regional airports, and cargoes. It is for convenience of transfer passengers departing from and arriving to Gimhae Airport via Incheon International Airport.

Asiana Airlines is aggressively attracting Chinese MICE tourists. 

The airliner has introduced four supersize passenger aircraft A380s since 2014 and plans to add two more to its fleet this year. The company plans to add another 25 small-size A321 NEOs on a gradual basis between 2019 and 2025. 

Asiana Airlines established Air Seoul to cope with changes in the global aviation industry, including above-average performances of LCCs. Air Seoul launched the Gimpo-Jeju route and the international route between Incheon and Takamatsu, Japan, recently. The LCC is to inaugurate seven flights to Japan and three others to Southeast Asia this year.

Asiana Airlines is also conducting diverse social volunteer activities in Korea and abroad with the goal of raising its public image of a corporation making social contributions. A case in point is a “beautiful flight crew members’ mentor” program offering support to the Education Ministry’s free semester system. To this end, Asiana Airlines signed an MOU on the program with the Education Ministry in which 30 middle school students undergo a hands-on educational program on basic tasks of flight crews and training experiences.

“In order to create the industry’s top value, Asiana Airlines does not rest on its laurels, but the airliner is devoting itself to rising to a global airline leader by making massive investments, operating strategic routes and offering its own quality services,” a company official said.