From the 1st of June, the Seoul-based Korean Air has confirmed it will introduce inflight Wi-Fi services on international routes that are operated by the carrier's Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.
According to the airline, the new service will first be made available on short-haul routes including Gimpo-Osaka, Incheon-Fukuoka and Incheon-Osaka routes, which are currently served by the 737 - MAX fleet, and will expand to all international routes.
The airline will classify its Wi-Fi service into “Internet” and “Messaging” categories, and pricing is further structured by flight distance and service usage time so that customers are able to choose a product that suits their needs.
The inflight Wi-Fi service may be purchased through a website accessible onboard the aircraft after boarding, except for during takeoff and landing.
To celebrate the launch, Korean Air will provide free messaging service to all passengers from June to August.
① Long-haul routes: Americas, Oceania, Europe, the Middle East/Africa (incl. Maldives, Tokyo Narita-Honolulu)
② Medium-haul routes: Southeast Asia (incl. Delhi, Mumbai, Colombo, Guam) / Central Asia (Tashkent)
③ Short-haul routes: Japan/China and Northeast Asia (incl. Hong Kong, Taipei, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Ulaanbaatar, Colombo-Maldives)
② Medium-haul routes: Southeast Asia (incl. Delhi, Mumbai, Colombo, Guam) / Central Asia (Tashkent)
③ Short-haul routes: Japan/China and Northeast Asia (incl. Hong Kong, Taipei, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Ulaanbaatar, Colombo-Maldives)
Korean Air has earned the highest 5-star airline rating from Skytrax, one of the world’s most prestigious air transport rating organizations, for the second consecutive time.
Established in London in 1989, Skytrax has been evaluating the service quality of airlines around the world every year, assigning ratings from 1 to 5, with the highest level being a 5-star rating.
Skytrax auditors travelled on Korean Air flights for two weeks as mystery shoppers and conducted a comprehensive evaluation of all services including airport check-in, lounges, transfer procedures, inflight meals, amenities and cabin crew services.
In March this year, Korean Air began providing a Korean-style vegan meal option, and began rolling out its new selection of 52 wines, curated in collaboration with the world-renowned sommelier Marc Almert. Starting from January, Korean Air also introduced an inflight meal pre-order service for Prestige class passengers on international flights departing from Korea, allowing passengers a wider selection of meal options.
On the airline’s recently introduced A321neos, Korean Air offers passengers fully lie-flat business seats, making it the first Korean airline to offer this feature on a narrowbody aircraft. The airline continuously seeks to provide its customers with the most pleasurable inflight experience, and has updated its inflight entertainment selection with more than 300 movies including popular Korean dramas, entertainment shows and K-pop.
Meanwhile, in recognition of its efforts to improve service quality, Korean Air became the first airline in Korea to receive a consumer-centered management (CCM) certification from the Korean Fair Trade Commission for the second time last December. Last year, Korean Air was also recognized as the no. 1 full service carrier in the Korea Productivity Center’s National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI).