Asiana Airlines links Melbourne and Seoul with direct flights

Asiana Airlines is linking Melbourne with South Korea, launching non-stop flights between Seoul and the Victorian capital. From December 26 2023, the Star Alliance carrier launches a twice-weekly seasonal flight. And Melbourne Airport hopes it’ll be the start of more regular flights between the two cities.

While Sydney and Brisbane have long enjoyed direct flights into Seoul, travelling between Melbourne and Seoul has only been possible with a stop in between – until now. Best of all, these flights can be booked using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, and even over the summer holidays, there’s decent reward seat availability.

These direct services will mean Victoria travellers and exporters can avoid the cost and inconvenience of transiting through another city to reach South Korea. Victoria has increasingly close business links to South Korea, with companies making significant investments in our state, such as the new Hanwha Defence facility at Geelong.

As the home of K-Pop, South Korea is attracting an increasing number of Australian tourists, while Melbourne’s major events such as the Australian Open are a huge drawcard for Korean visitors. We expect this seasonal service will prove popular, and we are hopeful it will pave the way for regular, year-round flights in the future.

– Jim Parashos, Melbourne Airport Chief of Aviation, November 2023

Asiana Airlines’ Melbourne flight schedule

Asiana’s flights between Melbourne and Seoul will run twice per week in each direction. From Melbourne, it’s an overnight flight – OZ6043, departing at 10 pm and touching down at 6:40 am the next calendar day. Out of Seoul, OZ6033 leaves the gate at 8 am to reach Melbourne at 8:30 pm local time the same day.

The airline plans to use its modern Airbus A350s on the route. These come with a staggered Business Class (‘Business Smartium’) cabin in a 1-2-1 arrangement. Behind that is Economy Class in a 3-3-3 layout. The first four rows are badged as ‘Economy Smartium’. It’s not exactly Premium Economy – more so typical Economy seating with extra legroom. The remainder of the plane is regular Economy Class.

For now, these seasonal flights run from 26 December 2023 until 29 February 2024. Asiana already offers year-round flights between Sydney and Seoul, so it’ll be interesting to see if the same becomes true for Melbourne.

Speaking of Sydney, it’s also well-connected with South Korea. Qantas, Jetstar and Korean Air all offer direct Sydney-Seoul flights as well. For Brisbane-based travellers, Korean Air runs non-stop flights from the Queensland capital. And from February 2024, Jetstar will as well.

Booking Asiana Airlines flights using frequent flyer points

With Asiana Airlines being a member of Star Alliance, it’s easy to earn and redeem points on Asiana’s flights. This includes Asiana’s Australian services from Sydney and Melbourne. While there are many options, most Aussie travellers will find Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer the easiest program for this.

Fortunately, this new Melbourne-Seoul route provides a new path for spending those miles on flights to Korea. And even over the busy summer travel period, reward seats can typically be found on at least one of the airline’s two weekly flights from Melbourne.

For a one-way Business Class ticket from Melbourne to Seoul, you’re looking at 104,000 KrisFlyer miles. If you don’t mind flying Economy, it’s 48,500 KrisFlyer miles, one-way. But even the inaugural flight from Melbourne still has a Business Class reward seat available. So go on – spoil yourself!

Taxes, fees and charges are very reasonable when spending KrisFlyer miles on Asiana. In either cabin, that one-way trip from Melbourne to Seoul attracts just $148 in total taxes, fees and charges to be paid alongside the miles redeemed.

After flying into its Seoul hub from Sydney or Melbourne, Asiana Airlines also offers flights to a broader network of destinations across Asia, Europe and the United States. These can also be booked using KrisFlyer miles, subject to reward seat availability.

Also read: How to maximise KrisFlyer miles on credit card spend

Feature image courtesy of Aleksandar Pasaric/Pexels.

---

Stay up to date with the latest news, reviews and guides by subscribing to Point Hacks’ email newsletter.