Asiana Airlines Inc. (Hangul: 아시아나 항공; RR: Asiana Hanggong

Asiana Airlines Inc. (Hangul: 아시아나 항공; RR: Asiana Hanggong; KRX: 020560; formerly Seoul Airlines) is one of South Korea's two major airlines, along with Korean Air. Asiana has its headquarters in Asiana Town in Osoe-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul.^[2] The airline has its domestic hub at Gimpo International Airport and its international hub at Incheon International Airport (70 kilometres (43 mi) from central Seoul). As a member of Star Alliance, it operates 14 domestic and 90 international passenger routes, and 27 cargo routes throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania.^[3] As of December 2012, the company employs 9,595 people. The majority of Asiana's pilots, ground staff, and flight attendants are based in Seoul.
Asiana won the prestigious Airline Of The Year award in 2010 by Skytrax. It also won the "Best Overall Airline In The World" award from the Business Traveler magazine in 2012.^[4] Additionally, Asiana is one of only seven airlines rated as 'five-star' by Skytrax, along with Cathay Pacific, Hainan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and All Nippon Airways, with the latter being added to the ranking on 29 March, 2013.
Asiana Airlines is the largest shareholder in Air Busan, a low-cost regional carrier joint venture with Busan Metropolitan City. Asiana is also currently an official sponsor of the South Korea national football team.

Contents  [hide]  1 History 1.1 Founding 1.2 Beginning Regular Service 1.3 Expansion as Global Carrier and Joining Star Alliance 1.4 New Image 1.5 Future Developments 1.6 Notable Achievements 2 Destinations 2.1 Codeshare agreements 3 Fleet 3.1 Retired fleet 4 In-flight services[25] 5 Frequent flyer program 5.1 Partners 6 Marketing 7 Incidents and accidents 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

History

An Asiana Boeing 777-200ER(HL7500)

Founding

Korean Air (associated with the Hanjin Group), which was privatized in 1969, had a monopoly on the South Korean airline industry until the establishment of Asiana in 1988.^[5] Asiana's formation did not come about as a policy initiative favoring liberalized market conditions but rather because of pressure from other chaebols and interests who wanted to compete.^[6] It was formed by the Kumho Asiana Group (formerly Kumho Group) and was originally known as Seoul Air International. Asiana was established on 17 February, 1988 and started operations in December 1988 with flights to Busan. As of 2007 the airline was owned by private investors (30.53%), Kumho Industrial (29.51%), Kumho Petrochemical (15.05%), foreign investors (11.9%), Korea Development Bank (7.18%), and others (5.83%).^[7]

Beginning Regular Service

Asiana began operations in December 1988 using Boeing 737 Classic with flights to Busan and Gwangju. In 1989, Asiana began regular services to Jeju City, Gwangju, and Daegu and later the same year, Asiana began international chartered flights to Sendai in Japan. In 1990, Asiana began its first scheduled international service to Tokyo, Nagoya, Sendai, and Fukuoka. In the same year, Asiana had 9 Boeing 747-400s, 10 Boeing 767–300s and 8 Boeing 737–400s. In early 1991, Asiana began services to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei. Transpacific flights to Los Angeles began in December 1991 with a Boeing 747-400Combi. Services to Vienna, Brussels, and Honolulu began in the mid 90's. In 1993, Asiana began services to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

Expansion as Global Carrier and Joining Star Alliance

Asiana Airlines has rapidly expanded since its establishment in 1988 to become a mid-sized, global carrier with a current fleet of 79 aircraft. In December 1998, the airline operated the presidential airplane for the first time.^[8] On 1 March, 2003, the airline became a full Star Alliance member, expanding its worldwide network and global brand. In 2004, the airline added the Airbus A330 and the Boeing 777-200ER to its fleet, and rapidly expanded its routes into mainland China. Currently it provides international services to 71 cities in 23 countries on 91 routes, and domestic services to 12 cities on 14 routes. It also provides international cargo services to 29 cities in 14 countries on 28 routes by Asiana Cargo, the airline's freight division. In 2012, the airline had net sales of US$5.3 billion.^[9]

New Image

Asiana Airlines' headquarter office in Osoe-dong, Seoul, near Gimpo International Airport.

In February 2006, Asiana Airlines modernized its corporate identity to harmonize with those of other divisions of its parent company the Kumho Asiana Group. The names of the travel classes have changed from First Class, Business Class, and Economy Class to First, Business, and Travel classes respectively, and the colors of the travel classes have changed to yellow, blue and red for First, Business, and Travel Class, respectively. New uniforms were also created for the crew.^[10]

Future Developments

Since the 2000s, Asiana has focused on long-haul services and fleet modernization. By December 2013, Asiana will increase its transpacific passenger routes from 44 to 49 operations per week. The airline plans to increase the size of its fleet from 79 to 85 by then too. With the delivery of the Airbus A380 in late 2014, the fleet size will grow to 88, and by 2015 it will include 36 narrow-body, 40 wide-body, and 12 freight aircraft.

Notable Achievements

Asiana began to focus on being an environmentally friendly company in the mid-90s and has been an industry leader with some of its efforts in this regard, such as completely banning in-flight smoking and cigarette sales in 1995.^[11] The company was awarded first in class certification by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for meeting criteria ISO 14001 in 1996.^[11][12] In 2001, Asiana Airlines was recognized for being the "first environmentally friendly company within the service industry" by the Ministry of Environment.^[11] Some of Asiana's other environmentally-minded programs include an emissions measurement and reduction system, reducing pollution from ground facilities and partnering with the Rainforest Alliance for coffee served on board.^[11]
On 17 February, 2009, Air Transport World (ATW) awarded Asiana the "Airline of the Year" award, which is considered to be one of the most honorable awards in the airline industry.^[13] and later in May 2010, Asiana Airlines was named the best airline in the world by Skytrax at the 2010 World Airline Awards.^[14] Asiana came in second place behind Qatar Airways in 2011 and 2012.

Destinations

An Asiana Cargo Boeing 747-400

Further information: Asiana Airlines destinations

Asiana Airlines serves destinations on four continents with a well-developed Asian network that includes important cities in the People's Republic of China, Japan, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. The airline serves a number of gateway cities in North America and Europe while retaining a limited coverage of Oceania. It is the first airline that has developed regular passenger routes between Seoul and Tashkent, Almaty, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Koror. Besides regular routes, Asiana also has served a number of seasonal charter routes from Seoul to some tourist attractions such as Brunei, Nha Trang, Qiqihar and Zhangjiajie. Asiana Cargo, the airline's subsidiary for cargo, also has a wide network, especially in Europe and North America, and currently serves some of the cities for which Asiana does not offer regular passenger services, such as Brussels, Vienna, Milan, Atlanta, Miami and Portland.
In July 2013, Asiana will begin its regular passenger service to Jakarta and Denpasar, Indonesia. Currently, there are also plans to launch a new passenger route between Seoul and Wuxi by December 2013.^[15] While trying to achieve a new traffic right for a Korea-Mongolia route, the airline is also considering more investment in Seoul-Central Asia routes, including launching a new service to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, by February 2014.

Codeshare agreements

As of January 2013, Asiana Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines ( * denotes Star Alliance members).^[16]

Air Astana Air Busan Air Canada * Air China * Air India Air Macau[17] Air New Zealand *

All Nippon Airways * China Southern Airlines (SkyTeam) EgyptAir * Ethiopian Airlines * Etihad Airways EVA Air * LOT Polish Airlines *

Myanmar Airways International Qantas (Oneworld) Qatar Airways (future Oneworld member) S7 Airlines (Oneworld) Shandong Airlines Shenzhen Airlines * Singapore Airlines *

South African Airways * Thai Airways International * Turkish Airlines * United Airlines * US Airways * (future Oneworld member)

Fleet[

An Asiana Cargo Boeing 747-400F taxiing at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Netherlands. (2009)

An Asiana Boeing 777-200ER in post-2006 colours departs from Sydney Airport in Australia

An Asiana Boeing 767–300 in the Star Alliance livery, lands at Seoul-Incheon International Airport, South Korea. (2009)

An Asiana Airbus A320 taxiing at Matsuyama Airport, Japan. (2009)

Asiana Airlines' fleet consists of the following aircraft with Asiana Cargo – the airline's freight division (of June 2013):^[3][18][19]

Asiana Airlines Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Orders	Options	Passenger				Notes
				P	J	Y	Total
Airbus A320-200	10	—	—	0	8 0	135 162	143 162
Airbus A321-100	2	—	—	0	0	200	200
Airbus A321-200	22	1	—	0	12 12 0 0	159 165 191 195	171 177 191 195
Airbus A330-300	12	3	—	0	30	260 245	290 275
Airbus A350-800	—	8	10	TBA				Original orders included 10 of each variations(−800, −900, −1000). All deliveries in 2016.[20]
Airbus A350-900	—	12	10	TBA
Airbus A350-1000	—	10	10	TBA
Airbus A380-800	—	6	—	TBA				Entry into service (EIS): May 2014[21]
Boeing 747-400	2	—	—	10	45	304	359
Boeing 747-400M	2	—	—	10	24	230	264
Boeing 767–300	7	—	—	0	15	235	250	To be phased out
Boeing 777-200ER	11	1	—	8 8 0 0 0 0	24 28 24 22 28 28	214 226 271 274 271 272	246 262 295 296 299 300	Figures include all aircraft purchased or ordered. One aircraft lost in SFO accident on July 6, 2013
Asiana Cargo Fleet
Boeing 747-400F	4	—	—	120,000 kg (265,000 lb)				International medium-long haul Asia, Europe and North America.
Boeing 747-400BDSF	6	—	—	120,000 kg (265,000 lb)				International medium-long haul Asia, Europe and North America
Boeing 767-300ERF	1	—	—	54,000 kg (119,000 lb)				Regional short-medium haul China, Japan and Southeast Asia
Total	79	41	30

• The average Asiana Airlines fleet age was 8.2 years old in October 2010.^[22]
• Asiana assigns Hong Kong, Saipan and Taipei to its Southeast Asia grouping.^[23][24]

Retired fleet[

The company has previously operated the following aircraft:

• Boeing 737–400 (retired from 31 January, 2013)
• Boeing 737–500
• Boeing 767–300ER

In-flight services^[25

Asiana Airlines business class meal on regional flights (Korean style)

Asiana Airlines' travel class meal (Korean style), on Incheon-Istanbul route, of September 2012

Asiana Airlines offers five classes of services - First Suite class, First class, Business Smartium class, Business class and Travel (economy) class. Seat configurations and in-flight entertainment systems vary by the type of the aircraft and its operating routes, although Asiana is likely to simplify those with upcoming deliveries of its new orders from Airbus.
First Suite class and First class are mainly offered in between Seoul and Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Frankfurt.^[26] Private amenity kits, pajamas and on-board souvenirs are offered for passengers. A passenger can order in-flight meals 48 hours prior to departure. Every first class seat is equipped with personal AVOD systems.
Besides those routes, most of Asiana's international flights offer two type of classes - business smartium class or business class as the highest class, and travel class, without first class. Some of the short-length international flights and charter flights are operated by mono-class basis, as well as all of the airline's domestic flights. Every business smartium class seat is equipped with AVOD, while some of business class seats are equipped with PTV, while the upgrading to AVOD will be completed by 2014. Except some routes operated by B767 and A320-100 aircraft, most of Asiana's travel class also offers AVOD or PTV systems. In-flight entertainment systems are not offered on domestic routes, since its longest domestic flight only takes approximately one hour.
Asiana Airlines also provides initiative cabin services which are never preceded by any other airline; this includes charming service (make-up), sommellier service (wine tasting), facial painting (for children) and the magic performance.^[27] More than 15 special in-flight meals are provided for passengers who cannot eat regular meals for religious, medical or age reasons.^[28] Some Asiana aircraft are equipped with in-seat power supplies in every class. In addition, Asiana offers two in-flight magazines, 'Asiana' (a travel magazine) and 'Asiana Entertainment', both available in every class.

Frequent flyer program

Asiana Club is Asiana Airline's frequent flyer program, formerly Asiana Bonus Club. Asiana Club has five tiers: Silver, Gold, Diamond, Diamond Plus and Platinum. To acquire or maintain each tier, members are required to accrue 0, 20000, 40000, 100000 miles in two calendar years from the 'reference date'. Status miles are based on 'On-board mileage', which includes miles accumulated by traveling with Asiana Airlines or Star Alliance airlines. Also, members can accrue miles by flying 'partner airlines' such as Qatar Airlines. Miles accumulated in the program entitle members to bonus tickets, class upgrades and other products and services such as dining at Outback Steakhouse.^[29]

Partners

Asiana Club Miles can be collected on all flights operated by Star Alliance member airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways.^[30]

Marketing

Asiana has endorsement deals with the following:

• Park Ji-Sung ^[31] – Queens Park Rangers star
• KJ Choi ^[31] – Professional golfer
• Yong-Eun Yang ^[31] – Professional golfer
• Chan-Ho Park ^[31] – ex-MLB pitcher
• YG Entertainment ^[32] - record label and talent agency for stars like PSY, Big Bang, 2NE1, G-Dragon, Lee Hi, Gummy, Se7en, Epik High and Akdong Musician
• KBS Symphony Orchestra

Incidents and accidents

• On 26 July, 1993, Asiana Airlines Flight 733, a Boeing 737–500 (HL7229) crashed in poor weather about 4 kilometres short of the runway in Mokpo while making its third landing attempt on runway 06 at Mokpo Airport. Two of the 6 crew members and 66 of the 110 passengers on board were killed.^[33]
• On 11 November, 1998, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 747-400 attempting a U-Turn in the gate area of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport embedded its winglet into an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62M tail. No one was injured. Asiana was subsequently sued by Aeroflot. The Il-62M in this incident had to be written off and was parked at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport with the Asiana winglet still embedded in its tail, until it was scrapped in October 1999.^[34]

• On 19 August, 2004, Asiana Airlines flight 204, a Boeing 747 flying into Los Angeles International Airport from Incheon, South Korea, had a near-collision with Southwest Airlines Flight 411, a Boeing 737, as a result of an air-traffic control error. The pilot of the Asiana flight aborted the landing, saving both planes.^[35]
• On 29 April, 2009, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777, flight 271, flying between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Incheon Airport (ICN), with 179 passengers and 16 crew aboard made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff from SEA after fire and smoke was seen coming from the left engine. The plane dumped fuel over Puget Sound before landing safely around 3:30 pm at Seatac. A compressor stall was later deemed to be the cause of the incident as of 4 May 2009.^[36]
• On 28 July, 2011, Asiana Airlines Cargo Flight 991 bound for Shanghai Pudong Airport from Incheon Airport, operated by a Boeing 747-400F, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Jeju Island, South Korea, after reporting a fire in the cargo compartment.^[37]

Wikinews has related news: Asiana Boeing 777 crashes upon landing at San Francisco International Airport

• On 6 July, 2013, Asiana Airlines Flight 214, a Boeing 777-200ER (HL7742) from Seoul's Incheon International Airport bound for San Francisco, crash landed at San Francisco International Airport, killing 2 of the 307 on board.^[38]

See also

	South Korea portal
	Companies portal
	Aviation portal

• Transport in South Korea
• List of companies of South Korea
• List of airlines of South Korea
• List of airports in South Korea
• List of Central, Far East, South, and Southwest airline holding companies

References

1. ^ "Asiana Airlines Sustainability Report 2012". Asiana Airlines. 
2. ^ "Home." Asiana Airlines. Retrieved 13 September 2010. "Address : Asiana Town, P.O.Box 98 47 Osoe-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, Korea." Address in Korean: "주소 서울특별시 강서구 오쇠동 47번지 아시아나 타운." Map in Korean, Direct image link to map
3. ^ ^{a b} "For foreigners residing in Korea." Asiana Airlines. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
4. ^ "Seoul voted "Best International Meetings Destination" for 2012". Traveldailynews.asia. Retrieved 22 February 2013. 
5. ^ Bamber, Greg J. et al. (2009). Up In the Air: how airlines can improve their performance by engaging their employees. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 51–52. ISBN 978-0-8014-4747-1. Retrieved 15 February 2013. 
6. ^ Kim, Jongseok (1997). Findlay, Christopher and Sien Chia, Karmjit Singh, ed. Asia Pacific Air Transport: Challenges and Policy Reforms. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 74–104. ISBN 978-981-230004-1. Retrieved 15 February 2013. 
7. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 27 March 2007. p. 78. 
8. ^ http://flyasiana.com/about/introduce/history06.asp#topGlobal01
9. ^ Asiana Airlines Sustainability Report 2012
10. ^ Asiana Airlines new colours
11. ^ ^{a b c d} BCSD Korea (15 January 2009). "Asiana Airlines: Environmentally friendly management and sustainability, Case Study (2009)". http://www.wbcsd.ch/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?MenuId=ODY&ClickMenu=RightMenu&doOpen=1&type=DocDet&ObjectId=MzMwNjE. Geneva: World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Retrieved 14 February 2013. 
12. ^ ISO 14000 essentials
13. ^ ATW's 2009 Airline of the Year
14. ^ "Asiana Airlines named Airline of the Year 2010 at the 2010 World Airline Awards– known as the Passenger's Choice awards" (Press release). SkyTrax. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 
15. ^ "Asiana to open Incheon-Wuxi route as early as next year". The Korea Times. 4 September 2012. 
16. ^ "Code-share Partners". Asiana Airlines. 
17. ^ "Asiana Airlines signs code-sharing deal with Air Macau". Globaltimes.cn. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2013. 
18. ^ asms.casa.go.kr. Atis.casa.go.kr. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
19. ^ [한국의 일등 상품] 아시아나항공(Korean)
20. ^ "Airbus Orders, Deliveries, Operators – Worldwide". airbus.com. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
21. ^ "Asiana orders six A380s". Flight Global. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011. 
22. ^ Asiana Airlines Fleet Age
23. ^ In-flight publications about its mileage programme.
24. ^ 운항시간표
25. ^ http://flyasiana.com/service/article/article_sleep/article_sleep02.asp
26. ^ http://flyasiana.com/service/article/upgrade/upgrade01.asp
27. ^ http://chkin.flyasiana.com/English/Fly2007/Contents/info/inflight/ifspecial/wizard_of_asiana.jsp
28. ^ http://chkin.flyasiana.com/English/Fly2007/Contents/info/inflight/class/grade/convenient_facilities.jsp
29. ^ "Asiana Club". Asiana Airlines. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
30. ^ "Asiana Airlines". Asiana Airlines. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
31. ^ ^{a b c d} Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung secures lucrative new contract – Sports Personal Endorsement news – Soccer. SportsPro Media. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
32. ^ Asiana Airlines sponsors Psy's agency. Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
33. ^ Harro Ranter (26 July 1993). "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-5L9 HL7229 Mokpo". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 21 November 2008. 
34. ^ Harro Ranter (11 November 1998). "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin 62M RA-86564 Anchorage International Airport, AK (ANC)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 21 November 2008. 
35. ^ Oldham, Jennifer; Alonso-Zaldivar, Ricardo (1 September 2004). "Near Miss Reported at LAX in August". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 
36. ^ "Compressor stall blamed for 777 engine problem". komonews.com. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 
37. ^ Cha, Seonjin; Park, Kyunghee (28 July 2011). "Asiana Boeing 747 Freighter Crashes in South Korean Waters". Bloomberg (New York). 
38. ^ San Francisco Boeing 777 crash 'not mechanical failure'

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asiana Airlines

• Asiana Airlines
• Asiana Cargo