Korea’s Air Premia plans rights offerings, eyes IPO by YE26

Air Premia plans to drum up capital with two rights offerings this year and double the size of its widebody fleet by 2025, its CE Yoo Myung-Seop has told the Korea Economic Daily (Hankyung) in an interview. The company then aims to go public by 2026 to further fund growth to 20 aircraft by 2030, he added. Yoo took over as CEO in November 2021 after working for 26 years at Korean Air and for six years at the country’s biggest budget carrier by fleet size, Jeju Air, mainly focusing on sales and marketing. “Through two paid-in capital increases this year we will increase the number of large aircraft to nine by 2025. We plan to list on the stock market in three years and operate a total of 20 units by 2030,” he told the newspaper on June 4. Air Premia currently operates four active B787-9s and took delivery of its fifth of the type in late May. It deploys them on six long-haul routes with a total of 25 weekly frequencies, linking Seoul with Los Angeles International, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Tokyo Narita, Ho Chi Minh City, Oslo Gardermoen, and since May 22, Newark, according to ch-aviation capacities data. Frankfurt International will start on June 27, and it has also scheduled charter flights this summer to Barcelona El Prat and Dhaka.<br/>