South Korea’s second largest full-service carrier Asiana Airlines Inc. will expand its codeshare agreement with United States-based United Airlines for the Incheon and Chicago route amid intensifying competition from budget carriers mainly providing short-distance services.

According to Asiana Airlines on Monday, the agreement will increase the number of local flights in the U.S. run together with its American peer to 62 from the current 46, enabling its passengers to use additional 16 flights to cities like Boston and Pittsburgh from Chicago.

Starting next week, the airline will introduce UA7316 for Incheon to Chicago routes and UA7315 for Chicago to Incheon routes, both running five days a week. Asiana passengers will be able to make reservation for the shared flights starting March 7. The agreement is expected to further strengthen its presence in the U.S. and push up its sales from U.S. destinations, an official at Asiana Airlines said.

This is the first time that the two carriers have expanded a code-sharing since the two have first signed a codeshare in April 2003. According to industry experts, Korean full-service carriers are increasingly launching joint operations with overseas peers to expand lucrative long-haul routes that low-cost carriers (LLC) cannot offer.

The full-service carriers have been facing growing competition from budget carriers for not only local routes but also international seats in the recent years. According to government data released early January, the share of international seats taken by the country’s low-cost carriers has grown to 22.1 percent as of November last year compared to 12 percent as of the same month in 2014. In contrast, the nation’s major long-haul carriers, Asiana Airlines and Korean Air Lines - saw their market share slide to 44.1 percent in 2016 from 50.0 percent in 2014.

Korean Air Lines, the nation’s top flag-carrier, is also seeking to establish a joint venture with Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines beyond their code-sharing agreement to get more reliable connectivity on services and attract more passengers. Cho Won-tae, president of Korean Air recently said that the carrier is in talks with the U.S. airliner for the joint venture. The two carriers have expanded a code-sharing partnership by increasing destinations to more than 150 routes last year.

By Kim Jung-hwan

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