Air Premia to launch first scheduled China route with Incheon-Ningbo service on 6 December

Flights leave Incheon International Airport at 10 a.m. and land in Ningbo at 11:30 a.m. local time. The return leaves Ningbo at 1 p.m. and reaches Incheon at 4:35 p.m.

Ningbo, in Zhejiang Province, is a manufacturing and trade city. The route is Air Premia's first scheduled service to China.

"Through the launch of service to Ningbo, we will secure demand for both tourism and business purposes and continue to expand our Asian route network," an Air Premia official said. Times are local to each airport and subject to change pending government approval, the airline said.

China capacity in the winter schedule

Ningbo is one of four new China services in Korea's winter schedule, which runs from 25 October 2026 to 27 March 2027. China will gain 232 additional weekly flights, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, and Japan 314 more than a year earlier, the largest increase of any destination.

Across the season, 84 airlines are due to operate international passenger services on 264 routes to 44 countries, with up to 5,353 flights a week, the ministry said.

The other new China routes are Air Busan's Busan-Guangzhou service, Eastar Jet's Cheongju-Xiamen flights and Spring Airlines' Jeju-Shijiazhuang flights.

An Asian network built around Incheon

Air Premia flies to three Asian cities today: Bangkok, Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong. In December it will resume Ho Chi Minh City service and add Sapporo and Ningbo in phases. It serves five U.S. gateways: Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco, Honolulu and Washington, D.C.

It holds roughly 14% of U.S.-Korea capacity, Travel Agent Central reported. Korean Air holds more than 40%.

The airline says the Asian additions will give travellers more itinerary options when connecting between U.S. and Asian cities through Incheon. It calls its model hybrid, between full-service and low-cost carriers. Korean Air leased Air Premia four 787-9s as part of the merger remedies, and the two signed an interline deal covering U.S.-to-Asia connections, Travel Agent Central reported.

What happens next

Air Premia says it intends to add Shanghai and other major Chinese cities after Ningbo, without giving a date. "Once we add the Incheon-Shanghai route in the future, we expect our connectivity with major Chinese cities to strengthen further," an airline official said.