South Korea's Air Premia has announced Seoul to Frankfurt. Launching in June, it comes a week after Newark was revealed. They are regular scheduled services. According to AeroRoutes but not yet confirmed elsewhere, Air Premia has also added a weekly Seoul-Oslo charter service, about which little is currently known.

Air Premia to Frankfurt

Beginning on June 27th, Seoul to Frankfurt will operate four weekly. Some 5,322 miles (8,565 km) as the crow flies, it will be longer than that as it will avoid Russian airspace like fellow South Korean operators Asiana and Korean Air. The distance is likely to be extended by around 18%. The schedule is as follows, with all times local:

• Seoul to Frankfurt: YP231, 11:05-16:45 (Tue, Wed, Fri); 11:05-16:50 (Sun)
• Frankfurt to Seoul: YP232, 18:50-13:55+1 (Fri); 19:00-13:55+1 (Tues, Wed, Sun)

Click here for Frankfurt-Seoul flights.

According to booking data, Seoul-Frankfurt had over 500,000 point-to-point roundtrip passengers in 2019, making it South Korea's largest European market. More than this, it was Seoul's third-biggest long-haul market, behind only Los Angeles (served) and NYC (Newark is coming). In terms of scheduled routes, Air Premia targets the biggest P2P markets, even if they already have multiple airlines.

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A long-haul low-cost airline

Despite the name, Air Premia is effectively a long-haul low-cost carrier rather than a premium airline. It has three Boeing 787-9s, each with 309 seats: 56 in premium economy and 253 in economy. It is a similar set-up to Norse Atlantic's 787-9s: it has 56 seats in premium economy but 282 in economy.

Long-haul low-cost is extraordinarily hard to make work. Like so many others before it, Air Premia relies on point-to-point demand as it has no feed, hence its focus on the largest markets. Let's hope it performs better than Norse Atlantic.

Generally, long-haul routes require premium passengers to help make it work, but Air Premia won't have that. It'll entirely rely on economy and premium economy passengers, which raises significant questions about its viability, especially with considerable competition to Frankfurt – it is one of four passenger airlines on the airport pair. Of course, freight will undoubtedly play an important role too.

The fourth airline to Frankfurt

Air Premier will join Asiana, Korean Air, and Lufthansa to the German airport. Between them, they'll have a maximum of four daily passenger flights. They are as follows:

• Asiana: daily, A350-900 and A380
• Korean Air: up to daily, 777-300ER
• Lufthansa: up to daily, 747-400
• Air Premia: four weekly, 787-9

Where might be next?

After Los Angeles, NYC, and Frankfurt, Seoul's 10 largest long-haul P2P markets based on 2019 data are London, Paris, Sydney, Honolulu, Rome, San Francisco, Barcelona, Istanbul, Vancouver, and Prague. It'll be interesting to see which, if any, will be next.

Where would you like to see Air Premia serve? Let us know in the comments.

Source of announcement: AeroRoutes. As always, 100% of the analysis and commentary by me.