Korea Air Lines boosts number of flights to North America

Korean Air Lines, the country’s biggest carrier, plans to increase flights to the U.S. and Canada this year as it adds two more Airbus SAS A380 superjumbos to its fleet.

The carrier will add nine planes this year, enabling more flights to Seattle, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Chicago, Woo Kee-hong, senior vice president of strategy and planning, said in an interview Friday. The company will increase services to Southeast Asia, China and Japan while not adding routes to Europe, Woo said.

Korean Air, which counts Samsung Electronics as its biggest source of revenue, expects passenger demand to increase 3.9 percent this year as economic growth in the U.S. and Asia, help mask a downturn in European demand. Airlines will exceed last year’s earnings by about 40 percent in 2013, the International Air Transport Association said last week. Bloomberg