The carrier said Tuesday it will add 28 weekly flights from March 29 compared with the winter schedule, operating a total of 18 routes with 161 flights a week.
Asiana will resume daily service on the Incheon-Chengdu and Incheon-Chongqing routes, which were suspended during the winter period, starting March 29. Chengdu and Chongqing are popular with South Korean travelers, including visits to a panda base and the birthplace of mala cuisine.
The Incheon-Chengdu flight will depart Incheon International Airport at 8:00 p.m. and arrive at Chengdu Tianfu Airport at 11:00 p.m. local time. The return flight will leave Chengdu at 12:10 a.m. local time and arrive at Incheon at 5:10 a.m. The Incheon-Chongqing flight will depart Incheon at 9:55 p.m. and arrive in Chongqing at 1:00 a.m. local time the next day; the return will depart Chongqing at 2:00 a.m. local time and arrive at Incheon at 6:25 a.m. Both routes will use 188-seat A321neo aircraft.
Asiana will also increase frequencies on major China routes: Incheon-Beijing will rise to 20 flights a week from 17. Incheon-Dalian will operate 10 flights a week by running the morning flight daily and adding three afternoon flights. Incheon-Tianjin will increase to seven flights a week from three, and Incheon-Nanjing will increase to seven from six.
Further increases are planned in May: Incheon-Changchun will rise to nine flights a week from seven starting May 6, and Incheon-Yanji will increase to eight from seven starting May 8.
Asiana said it decided on the expansion to respond to market changes, citing the extension of China’s visa-free policy for South Koreans through the end of this year and continued growth in South Korean demand to visit China.
The airline said it has also expanded sales and marketing in China as demand has risen for trips to South Korea for K-culture experiences and shopping after South Korea introduced visa-free entry for Chinese group tourists.
Asiana said it launched an official, dedicated direct-sales channel on Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency, on Feb. 2. It also said that in November it ran a live-commerce event for Singles’ Day with Fliggy, Alibaba Group’s online travel platform, drawing 500,000 visitors that day.
After the two governments introduced visa-free policies, 3.16 million South Korean travelers visited China in 2025, up about 37% from a year earlier, the airline said. The number of Chinese visitors to South Korea rose 18.5% to 5.79 million.
An Asiana official said the airline expects broader demand, including for expanded economic and cultural cooperation, following the visa-free policies. The official said Asiana will continue increasing capacity to help strengthen ties between the two countries.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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