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Asiana’s new Prague routes out of Seoul will nearly double parent company Korean Air’s reach into the Czech capital.
Asian carriers are adding new intercontinental connections during the summer 2025 season, strengthening their European networks.
SEOUL-PRAGUE
Asiana Airlines will expand its network in April by launching flights to Prague, its seventh destination in Europe.
Starting April 1, the carrier will operate three weekly flights between Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) and Prague’s Václav Havel Airport (PRG) on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. The route will be served by a 311-seat Airbus A350-900.
Korean Air, which completed its acquisition of Asiana in December 2024, already operates a Seoul-Prague route with four weekly flights—a service it has offered since 2004. Korean Air will continue its operations alongside Asiana’s new service, increasing the total weekly connections between the two cities to seven.
Asiana currently flies to six destinations in Europe: Barcelona, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London, Paris and Rome. The addition of Prague is expected to be a stepping stone for strengthening the airline’s network in Central and Eastern Europe.
Alongside Korean Air’s service to Prague, the carrier also flies three times a week between Seoul and Budapest. Other connections between South Korea and Central and Eastern Europe comprise LOT Polish Airlines’ routes to ICN from Budapest, Warsaw, and Wroclaw, Poland.
Sabre Market Intelligence data reveal that two-way O&D traffic between South Korea and Central and Eastern Europe reached approximately 950,000 passengers in 2024. Seoul-Prague ranked as the fourth-largest city pair, with about 116,000 passengers.
Prague remains a popular tourist destination for South Koreans, boosted by the continued popularity of the 2005 South Korean TV drama series “Lovers in Prague.” According to the Czech Republic Embassy in Seoul, the majority of Korean visitors are aged 30-44, representing 59.6% of all arrivals. It says such visitors perceive the city as “a romantic Instagram destination.”
BEIJING-OSLO
Hainan Airlines is restarting flights between Beijing and Oslo in March, restoring nonstop connectivity between mainland China and Norway after a hiatus of more than five years.
The flights between Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) and Oslo Airport (OSL) are set to begin on March 22 and will operate three times a week through Oct. 25 using a 292-seat Airbus A330-300. Hainan Airlines last served the route from May to October 2019.
Norwegian airport operator Avinor says the 4,337 mi. (3,769 nm) route will support tourism and cultural exchange while playing a vital role in Norway’s seafood industry, because cargo is a key component of the service. Norway’s seafood exports were valued at NOK 44.1 billion ($4.1 billion) in the third quarter of 2024, setting records for trade with the UK, Germany and China, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council.
The addition of Oslo will increase Hainan Airlines’ European network to 17 destinations during the summer 2025 season alongside such cities as Berlin, Brussels, Dublin, Manchester and Prague. The move follows the recent launch of routes connecting Shenzhen and Madrid, and Chengdu and Vienna.
The latest schedules filed with OAG show that Hainan Airlines intends to offer about 1.4 million two-way seats between China and Europe in summer 2025, marking a rise of around 30% over summer 2024.
Overall, China-Norway traffic totaled about 63,000 two-way passengers during 2024, figures provided by Sabre show, compared with 97,000 during the 2019 calendar year, when Hainan Airlines previously offered nonstop seasonal flights.
HONG KONG-MUNICH
Cathay Pacific’s European operations will expand this summer with the addition of Munich and resumption of flights to Brussels.
Flights between Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) and Munich Airport (MUC) will launch on June 16 with four weekly return services, making Munich the airline’s second destination in Germany alongside daily flights to Frankfurt. The 5,600 mi. (4,870 nm) route will be operated by Airbus A350-900s.
Additionally, Cathay will return to Belgium’s capital of Brussels on Aug. 3. The airline will operate four weekly flights on the route, also using A350-900s. Brussels was last served on a regular basis before the COVID-19 pandemic halted operations in March 2020.
The move means the oneworld alliance founding member will serve 11 European cities during the summer 2025 season, offering up to 93 return flights per week—a 20% increase from summer 2024. The schedule also includes five daily flights to London; daily flights to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Manchester, Milan, Paris and Zurich; and 4X-weekly flights to both Madrid and Barcelona, the latter being a summer seasonal service.
Cathay’s planned Munich launch comes as Lufthansa prepares to resume flights between MUC and HKG after a five-year hiatus. The Star Alliance member will launch daily A350-900 flights on the route beginning March 30, adding to the growing connectivity between the cities.
According to Sabre data, there were about 50,400 two-way O&D passengers between Hong Kong and Munich during 2024, marking a year-on-year rise of 24%. However, the total last year was 52% down on 2019 levels, when Lufthansa served the destinations nonstop.
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