Origin Pacific announces deal with Korean Air

Wednesday 18th February 2004

Nelson-based airline Origin Pacific today announced a deal with Korean Air that will see it provide add-on fares for passengers across its network.

Origin has struck similar deals with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, P&O Cruises, and Air Tahiti Nui.

Korean Air flies daily to Auckland from Seoul.

Confirmation of the latest deal comes as the airline looks ahead to life without its three-year codeshare partner, Qantas.

General manager sales and marketing Ewan Wilson said the initiatives left Origin sure that there was life after the Qantas deal, which expires at the end of March.

Origin has also bolstered its domestic schedule with a twice daily service between Queenstown and Christchurch, and new capacity between Auckland and Wellington, using aircraft Qantas no longer wants to share.

At the same time, the airline has redeployed an ATR aircraft used in its deal with Qantas to fly the new market from Auckland to Wellington.

It has also added a new weekday service from Auckland to Napier, and increased flights between Auckland and Palmerston North.

Morning and evening flights to Queenstown, which were once codeshare were now operated solely by Origin Pacific, Wilson said.

All that meant the demise of the Qantas deal gave Origin the chance to develop its domestic programme to cater for a new international clientele.

"Some might have thought losing the codeshare agreement was all bad news.

"...to be honest, Qantas only filled about five seats in our codeshare flights seats we can fill ourselves and the two ATR aircraft on wetlease (leasing the aircraft and crew) are now free so we can make the most of agreements with international partners we might not have got before."

Meanwhile, Wilson said Origin was continuing "positive" talks with new trans-Tasman carrier Pacific Blue and expected to announce more agreements in the coming weeks.

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