Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's No. 2 full-service passenger carrier by sales, said it will deploy its second A350 jet on long-haul routes from July 18.
The second of four A350 jets scheduled to be delivered this year arrived at Incheon International Airport after a day-long flight from Airbus, a Toulouse-based civil aircraft manufacturer, the company said in a statement. The second A350 will carry passengers on routes to Shanghai and Singapore from July 18 and to Hanoi and San Francisco from mid August.
The first A350 began serving the Hong Kong and Manila routes in April and will make flights to San Francisco and London after August, the company said.
Asiana Airlines plans to bring in a total of 30 midsize A350 jets by 2025. The A350, which can seat 311 people, costs more than $300 million but real transaction prices may differ depending on options.
The highly fuel efficient passenger plane can travel up to 8,100 nautical miles, or 14,985 kilometers at a time.
Asiana Airlines, one of Asia’s largest carriers, has begun revenue service with its first A350 aircraft using Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s industry-leading inflight entertainment and connectivity solution.
This first aircraft, which was line fit with Panasonic solutions by Airbus, entered passenger service on May 15th having been delivered to the carrier on April 26th.
Asiana Airlines and the Incheon International Airport Corp. got together with Alibaba of China to promote the civilian airlines exchange between Korea and China. Asiana Airlines said the aviation company held a ceremony with Alibaba at the Chinese online shopping firm's branch office in Beijing to agree on the joint undertaking on July 2 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the opening of the diplomatic relations between Korea and China which falls on Aug. 24.
The joint event which will take place from Aug. 16-25 will give a discount of up to 70 percent on tickets for Chinese planes departing China to fly to Korea and taking off from the Incheon International Airport in Korea to fly to third countries during the 10-day period.
The Incheon Airport Authority plans to plans to attract the Chinese transfer passengers at the Incheon Int'l Airport by providing them with the transfer guide service in Chinese and other public relations activities. Alibaba, in the meantime, will give a discount of 30,000 won per ticket for the passengers who buy the Asiana Airlines tickets at its outlets in China during the promotional period.
Panasonic’s eX3 system delivers a premium passenger experience through features including audio and video on demand, and a massive content library that can offer over 50 movies, 60 TV shows, games, music and more. The aircraft will also offer Panasonic’s global connectivity service the only broadband inflight connectivity service operating in every country in the world today enabling passengers to access the internet via broadband inflight Wi-Fi, and to send and receive calls and text messages.
An official for Panasonic Avionics said: “We are delighted to announce this partnership with Asiana Airlines. Our world-class systems provide their passengers with a globally available and premium inflight entertainment and connectivity experience.”
Panasonic Avionics Corporation is the world’s leading supplier of inflight entertainment and communication systems. The company’s best-in-class solutions, supported by professional maintenance services, fully integrate with the cabin enabling its customers to deliver the ultimate travel experiences with a rich variety of entertainment choices, resulting in improved quality communication systems and solutions, reduced time-to-market and lower overall costs.
Established in 1979, Panasonic Avionics Corporation, a U.S. corporation, is a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation. Headquartered in Lake Forest, California with over 5,000 employees and operations in 80 global locations, it has delivered over 9,000 IFE systems and 1,500 inflight connectivity solutions to the world’s leading airlines.
Asiana Airlines was founded in 1988 and has continued to maintain its 5-star rating by Skytrax for 11 consecutive years since 2007. Asiana Airlines operates 79 international passenger routes to 65 destinations in 23 countries and 23 cargo routes to 25 cities in 11 counties. Asiana Airlines is operating state-of-the-art Airbus A350-900 aircrafts with in-flight connectivity from May 2017 to provide the ultimate travel experience. Asiana’s A350 will be flying to Hong Kong, Manila, Osaka, San Francisco and London by the end of 2017.
