Airline talks South Africa, Brazil routes

Korean Air Lines Co., the top local airline, wants to start flights to Johannesburg, South Africa and Sao Paulo, Brazil as it expands into emerging economies to tap growth in air travel.
The carrier aims to start services within a year of getting approval from the governments, Park Yong-soon, Korean Air’s managing vice president of international affairs and alliances, said in an interview on Tuesday.
“Our government will have talks with the two countries and according to the traffic rights that we obtain, we are going start services,” Park, who was attending a meeting in Vancouver, said. “We don’t have routes to South America and South Africa, but there are an increasing number of Koreans visiting the countries.”
Starting new routes may help Korean Air to bolster growth in sales after lagging behind rival airlines in the region, including China Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.
The carrier wants to build on the 110 destinations it services and tap the 12 million Koreans who travel abroad, Park said. South America has become a growth market for carriers and airlines. Emirates Airline said it’s starting flights to Sao Paulo in October and may add Buenos Aires by the end of 2009.