South Korea’s T’way plans further European expansion

South Korean low-cost operator T’way Air is looking to further expand its European operations, as it prepares to launch flights to Rome and Barcelona. The airline on 7 June says it has gotten approvals to operate to Frankfurt in October and is working to eventually launch flights to Paris, after “an agreement was reached between Korean and French aviation authorities”. “Both routes will be launched taking business schedules into consideration. We plan to start selling air tickets as soon as the date is confirmed,” T’way adds. It will operate thrice-weekly flights to Rome and Barcelona - its second and third European points - on 8 August and 11 September, respectively, with Airbus A330-200s that seat 246 passengers. According to Cirium fleets data, the airline currently has one A330-200 in its fleet (HL8211), which was formerly operated by Korean Air. The airline received approvals to operate to Europe as part of conditions for the approval of the merger between compatriots Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. European Union regulators cited concerns of reduced competition on European routes, and imposed the condition that another Korean operator be allowed to operate these routes. T’way marked its foray into European operations in May this year, when it began flying to Zagreb in Croatia. <br/>