Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced today that, as of 28 October 2019, it will take over operations of services to Busan, in South Korea, from regional division SilkAir, in efforts to increase seat capacity on the route by up to 76%, to meet growing travel demand. 

“Demand for SilkAir’s Busan flights since the launch of the route on 1 May 2019 has been very encouraging, and it has proven to be another popular gateway into South Korea, complementing SIA’s services to Seoul. We look forward to helping further grow travel to and from South Korea with the increase in capacity that SIA’s larger aircraft can provide on the route,” said senior vice president of marketing and planning, Tan Kai Ping. 

Subject to regulatory approvals, SIA will operate flights to Busan four times per week, maintaining SilkAir’s current flight frequency. 

The route will be served with SIA’s 285-seat Airbus A330-300 aircraft, which feature 30 Business Class and 255 Economy Class seats. The A330s can accommodate up to 123 more passengers per flight than SilkAir’s 162-seat Boeing 737-800s1 which currently serve the Singapore-Busan route. 

In addition to Busan, SIA and low-cost subsidiary Scoot operate a total of 31 weekly flights to Seoul in South Korea.