Air China, Asiana Airlines expand air routes

Flag carrier Air China and Asiana Airlines reached a code-sharing agreement that will cover 11 Korea-China routes. This is part of the ultimate plan to have a blanket code-sharing to cover all routes served by the two airlines. Asiana Airlines becomes the biggest of the Korean carriers to operate on Korean-China routes with 172 flights a week. The code-sharing agreement covers nine cities in China-Beijing, Qingdao, Weihai, Tianjin, Dalian, Yanji, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Hangzhou, and two cities in Korea-Incheon and Busan. The new agreement is in addition to the current cooperation between the two carriers on the Incheon-Hangzhou and Busan-Beijing routes. These routes will be operated with 151 total weekly frequencies. Asiana Airlines is a member of the world’s largest airline alliance, Star Alliance, which Air China is slated to join next year.