Korean Air, South Korea’s largest airline, said Wednesday that it would strengthen cooperation with its budget unit Jin Air by adding six codesharing routes to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries.

Starting March 29, codesharing will be applicable on routes that the low-cost carrier currently operates from Incheon to Nagasaki, Okinawa, Macau, Guam, Kota Kinabalu and Vientiane.

“Korean Air will have a chance to enter new markets where it has not operated, while Jin Air can strengthen its sales network through the codeshare,” a Korean Air official said. 


A codeshare is an aviation business partnership through which a flight operated by one airline is jointly marketed by one or more airlines. The purpose of a codeshare is to make air travel easier by allowing travelers to travel across the networks of multiple airlines with a single reservation.

Korean Air said that the new codeshare will give its customers more connections to destinations and improve network connectivity between the two carriers.

The two airliners have been pushing to create synergy with the dual-brand strategy ― the full-carrier service focuses on in-flight service quality while the low-cost carrier targets price-conscious passengers.

Last week, Korean Air announced that it signed a codeshare agreement with Aerolineas Argentinas for the Incheon―New York―Buenos Aires and Incheon―Sao Paulo―Buenos Aires routes.

Korean Air currently has codeshare partnerships with 30 airlines on 335 routes worldwide, including Air France and China Southern Airlines.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)