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Asiana Airlines latest carrier to reduce Hawaii service

Asiana Airlines is the latest carrier to cut back on its Hawaii service as travel demand drops in the wake of the global spread of the new coronavirus.

Asiana Airlines said today that it is suspending its Incheon-Honolulu flight from March 9-12, March 16-18 and March 24-25. Prior to its reduction, that flight, which has 300 seats, flew seven days a week.

Reductions for United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and Korean Air already had been announced over the last week or so. United, the largest domestic carrier to Hawaii, said Wednesday that it planned to cut its domestic service by 10% and its international service by 20% starting in April.

United said the changes will be made public March 7 and declined to provide further details now about how the cutbacks will impact Hawaii. Prior to the changes, the carrier was forecast to bring nearly 2.77 million U.S. scheduled seats to Hawaii in 2020 up 1.3% from the nearly 2.73 million that it brought in 2019.

Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Korean Air also said it has reduced or canceled some service routes. The reductions impact service between Honolulu and Incheon. According to the carrier’s website, it has suspended its KE051/052 service from March 2 to March 28. It has reduced its KE053/054 flights to four times a week from March 9 to April 25.

Prior to the cut back, DIIO airline data showed Korean Airlines servicing Hawaii with 408 flights and 143,844 seats from January to December 202o. That’s an average of eight flights and 2,766 seats per week.

These cutbacks follow Hawaiian Airlines’ Feb. 26 announcement that it would temporarily suspend its five-times-weekly nonstop service between Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and Incheon International Airport (ICN), beginning March 2 through April 30, due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in South Korea.

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