Korean Air will launch a new seasonal service linking the capitals of South Korea and Hungary from May 23 to October 17 this year.
The South Korean flag carrier will fly this route three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The outbound flight will depart from Seoul Incheon Airport at 1200, before arriving at Budapest Airport at 1625 on the same day. The return leg will leave Budapest at 1830 and land back in Seoul at 1230 the following day.
| From | To | Flight No. | Departs | Arrives | Days |
| Seoul Incheon (ICN) | Budapest (BUD) | KE971 | 1200 | 1625 | Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday |
| Budapest (BUD) | Seoul Incheon (ICN) | KE972 | 1830 | 1230 (+1) |
The airline will use an Airbus A330-200 aircraft to serve this route. The plane has 218 seats, including 30 in business class laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration and 188 in economy class in a 2-4-2 configuration.
LOT Polish also launched a thrice-weekly seasonal service between Seoul and Budapest back in September 2019.
Budapest Airport said Korean Air’s new offering “more than proves the high demand in this growing market and to and from Northeast Asia generally”. It added that the Hungarian capital’s passenger capacity to Northeast Asia has grown by more than 100 per cent this summer compared with last year.
“The market demand to and from Korea is considerable enough to support these three new weekly flights and the BUD team are fully committed to supporting Korean Air in what is sure to become yet another successful new route,” said Kam Jandu, CCO of Budapest Airport.
Budapest is now connected with non-stop long-haul flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Sanya and Seoul in Northeast Asia, as well as Chicago, Doha, Dubai, New York, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Korean Air said the launch of the new route will “reinforce its competitiveness in its network to Europe and take an advantageous position in the East European market”.
Last June, Shanghai Airlines became the first Chinese carrier to offer a thrice-weekly non-stop service between China and Hungary. The carrier later boosted the service to go daily, with additional flights including an operation via Chengdu and Xian twice-weekly to compliment the Shanghai link.
Another Chinese carrier, Hainan Airlines, also launched a new route linking Chongqing and Budapest at the end of 2019.
