by Emerson Drewes, Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 7, 2022
Korean Air is reopening the Las Vegas route to and from Seoul, South Korea starting Sunday, after being closed since March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Korea has been periodically easing its COVID-19 restrictions for international tourism since April, allowing for Korean Air to re-establish services to Las Vegas.
“We were always hoping to bring back Las Vegas and the flight as soon as we can,” said Esther Choe, advertising and PR manager at Korean Air. “With the recent travel surge and the demand that we’ve been seeing, we decided that it was the right time to bring back the Las Vegas flight.”
In addition to the Las Vegas flights, 13 other routes in the United States have reopened, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and many other large cities.
For residents of Korea, Las Vegas is a popular destination for people looking to travel to the U.S. for both business and leisure, according to Choe.
“Las Vegas is such a popular destination, for both business and leisure. But especially right now with it being peak summer season,” said Choe. “We’re seeing such high demand in people wanting to travel back to the Americas and one of the most popular spots is Las Vegas.”
Choe notes the “Korean wave” in the U.S., which increased popularity in the West for Korean pop culture including K-Pop music and Korean television and movies. In April, South Korean K-Pop group BTS sold out four shows at Allegiant Stadium.
“Korea and the Korean culture has been booming for many years,” said Choe. “There’s so much that Korea can offer, and I think people are very much interested in experiencing it themselves personally by getting to the country.”
The approximately 13-hour nonstop, direct flights to Incheon International Airport will operate on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday on 218-seat Airbus planes.
People looking to travel to South Korea must provide a negative COVID-19 test 48 hours before departure.