Air Seoul (
Korean: 에어서울) is a South Korean
low-cost carrier and a subsidiary of
Asiana Airlines. The airline is based at
Incheon International Airport just outside of Seoul, from which it operates flights to international destinations. It launched operations on 11 July 2016.
History
Since early 2014,
Asiana Airlines had considered launching a second
low-cost carrier (LCC) in addition to
Air Busan. It initially faced difficulties in proceeding with the project because of the
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash in July 2013.[1] Asiana has only a minority 46% stake in Air Busan, while it has a controlling stake in Air Seoul.[2] Air Busan is based in Busan, which has allowed other LCCs such as
Jin Air and
Jeju Air to fill the Seoul market; Air Seoul is based in Seoul.[3] The goals of Air Seoul are to strengthen Asiana's competition with other South Korean LCCs and to improve Asiana's performance in certain markets, such as secondary Japanese cities.[1][3]
The airline was established on 7 April 2015. In June 2016, Air Seoul operated trial flights within South Korea.[4] On 5 July 2016, the
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced it had granted Air Seoul its
air operator's certificate. Flights between
Seoul–Gimpo and
Jeju commenced on 11 July.[5][6] The airline started flights to Japan in October 2016, its first international routes[7] and has since moved to become a purely international airline.
In 2018, it carried 1.7 million passengers in 2018, up by 109% from 2017.[8]
On 16 December 2019, Air Seoul launched a Hanoi – Seoul route. The airline has confirmed that Tam Vuong had become an official representative of Air Seoul in
Vietnam.[9][10]
On 7 November 2016, Air Seoul announced that it had collaborated with
NaverWEBTOON to produce a safety video. Some of the works featured in this video include Denma, The Sound of Heart, and Noblesse.[46]
Air Seoul began offering an in-flight magazine entitled Your Seoul to passengers in January 2017. The magazine advertises the tourist attractions in the airline's hub city, Seoul.[47]
On 21 March 2019, Air Seoul with collaboration of
NaverWEBTOON's
LICOArchived 2021-01-11 at the
Wayback Machine introduced a new in-flight safety video. Air Seoul is the first Korean airline to produce an in-flight safety video based on 3D animation created using LICO's character Hwang-goo.[48]
On 7 October 2019, Air Seoul launches in-flight entertainment service named Cinema in the Sky.[49][50]