Alicia Malone and Ryan Lee check out the first class seating in a 747-400 during a celebration of Korean Air’s fourth anniversary of service in Las Vegas Wednesday, September 22, 2010.
Friday, Sept. 24, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
It may take a lot more Southern Nevada customers for Korean Air to bring back the airline’s nonstop flights to Seoul.
Korean Air — the only airline with nonstop service from the Asian mainland to Las Vegas — revamped its Las Vegas-to-Seoul operation a few months ago with flights leaving McCarran International Airport and stopping at Los Angeles International before the 13-hour transit across the Pacific Ocean.
The airline’s Seoul-to-Las Vegas trip is nonstop.
Korean showed off its 333-passenger Boeing 747 jumbo jet to the local media and other guests Wednesday on the fourth anniversary of the service that operates three times a week. Since Sept. 22, 2006, Korean Air has flown more than 221,000 travelers between Seoul and Las Vegas, resulting in an estimated $120 million nongaming economic impact. The route is a big part of why Korea is the seventh-largest international market for Las Vegas.
Many passengers who fly directly to Las Vegas from Seoul purchase fly-drive packages that enable them to sightsee in the Southwest and drive to Southern California enabling them to return to Korea from Los Angeles.
While Korean Air’s Las Vegas flight includes a stopover in Los Angeles that adds a couple of hours to the trip, it assures the airline of filling more seats on the flight.
The Southern Nevada market to Korea is soft, but airline officials, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and McCarran are marketing the angle that Las Vegas is a superior gateway airport because it takes less time to clear the international security checkpoint and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection port at Terminal 2.
Several Western cities — Denver, Albuquerque, N.M., and Reno — have no direct service to Asia.
In addition, Korean Air has a network of flights from Seoul’s Incheon International Airport to China, Taiwan and Japan.
The airline, which has a fleet of 132 aircraft, operates nearly 400 passenger flights a day to 117 cities in 39 countries.
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