Emirates, the leading international airline, is set to expand its connection between Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Seoul, a route it has serviced since 2005. With a significant increase in demand, Emirates is adding three extra weekly flights to its schedule starting February 19th, using its Boeing 777-300ER widebodies for these services. The additional flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
The strong bilateral non-oil trade relationship between Korea and the United Arab Emirates, which exceeded $3 billion in the first half of 2023, underlines the importance of this route. As global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues, demand for travel to South Korea has seen a substantial rebound. In response to this, Emirates is increasing capacity by over 1,000 seats per week on the route.
Seoul is part of Emirates' extensive Asian network, which sees the airline operating over 4,500 international flights this month. From its Dubai hub, Emirates offers nearly two million seats to destinations across Asia, including more than 150,000 seats to Bangkok alone.
According to data from Cirium, Seoul has over 30,000 roundtrip international flights this month operated by 75 airlines. Korean Air leads the market share with 6,913 flights and close to two million seats. The most frequented international route from Seoul is to Osaka, Japan, with 938 flights in each direction and over 412,000 seats available.
Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, ranks as the second busiest route by flight numbers from Seoul, with 896 flights in each direction. Up to five daily flights are offered by five airlines during peak days in January. Due to the deployment of widebodies by several airlines on this route, more than 418,000 seats are on offer this month, with up to 60 roundtrip flights on the busiest days. It's evident that travel between Japan and South Korea is highly prevalent, with nearly 8,500 international flights departing from Seoul to various Japanese cities.
The third busiest international route from Seoul is to Fukuoka Airport, featuring 726 flights in each direction and providing more than 300,000 seats in total.