Travellers will see rising air ticket prices in Korea this year due to strong rebound of travel demand, a Finnair sales executive in Seoul said.
Ticket prices went down substantially last year, because of shrinking market volume, particularly in business travel segment and greater supply.
"Because there were some governments supporting aircraft manufacturers with low interest rates last year, the supply of planes have been increasing while demand went down during the recession," Jani Peuhkurinen, Finnair's sales director in Korea, said in an interview.
But with the demand rebounding strongly this year, customers will see a price increase, he said.
Airliners were struggling last year in the Korean market to deal with lower demand, economic recession and the weaker won. Cheaper airfares were a tool to draw interest from potential customers.
But for Finnair, it was the quality service and its short flight time that helped the air carrier see a steady growth both in traffic volume and sales.
"We are still a newcomer (to the Korean market). We are willing to provide extremely good services but keep the price level attractive," he said.
This year, Finnair plans to expand its presence in Korean market and increase its service to Europe, Peuhkurinen said.
"We operate the most modern fleets compared to other competitors, provide shortest flight times and have Helsinki-Vantaa Airport providing the best service time for customers," he said.
Finnair has been expanding its route network in Asia, which accounts for about 40 per cent of its revenue. To attract customers travelling between Asia and Europe, Finnair has opened a spa and sauna lounge at Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport, in December.
The Nordic country's flag carrier operates currently three flights between Seoul and Helsinki a week and five during the summer season. It takes eight and half hours to fly from Helsinki to Seoul. Finnair claims to offer the shortest travel time between Asia and Europe.
Airlines, including Finnair, are closely following up possible market changes as Korea might introduce new open skies agreement with Europe and neighbouring countries to attract more travellers to visit Korea, he added.
The East Asian region is likely to see a dramatic growth in air traffic if the three countries, Korea, Japan and China, open their skies in near future.
