Vietnam will be the first country in Southeast Asia where Korean Air will be deploying its fuel-efficient next-generation Airbus A321neos. On 1 May, Korean Air will introduce the new Airbus fleet in Seoul Incheon-Ho Chi Minh City, a route the airline serves three times a day. Korean Air’s spacious A321neo cabin is equipped with 174 Economy Class seats and eight Prestige Class (Business Class) seats. The A321neo is the airline’s first narrowbody aircraft to feature fully lie-flat seats in Prestige Class. Lie-flat business-class seats are normally found exclusively on wide-body aircraft.
“Vietnam is a growing market for Korean Air and remains one of our most important markets. Many Korean and foreign companies have been investing in Vietnam, fuelling demand for business travel,” said Korean Air’s Ho Chi Minh Sales Director, Kyeyong Kim. “Vietnam is also popular with leisure travellers, with Korea accounting for the largest source of international arrivals into Vietnam.”
The General Statistics Office of Vietnam says that in this year’s first quarter Vietnam had 2.7 million international visitor arrivals, 29.7 times higher than the same period in 2022. Korea continues to be the largest source of international visitor arrivals to Vietnam with 811,000 for the first three months. “Vietnam is an important inbound market for Korean Air, but also a significant outbound market because many people travelling from Vietnam fly to North America and elsewhere on Korean Air via our hub in Seoul Incheon,” added Kim.
Korean Air’s A321neo Business Class seats are equipped with a 44-cm personal monitor for audio/video on demand (AVOD) services along with a wireless smartphone charger. Economy Class passengers are treated to 33-cm personal monitors, the largest to-date on the airline’s fleet, and convenient AVOD Bluetooth pairing is offered in all service classes. Korean Air is also the first Asian airline to feature Airbus’ Airspace cabin on an A321neo. The SkyTeam carrier’s Airspace cabin elevates passenger comfort, cabin ambiance, and inflight services to the next level. The cabin’s unique and customisable lighting system sets the right ambiance throughout all phases of the flight, such as when welcoming passengers aboard, and during inflight meal service. Those with hand-carry on board will also enjoy Korean Air’s larger overhead bins that are 40 percent larger than other A321neos. The airline is slated to receive a total of 30 A321neo aircraft by 2027 and will be deploying these aircraft on routes to Southeast Asia, Japan, and China.