Flying around South Korea is about to get cheaper and a whole lot cooler, after the weekend's announcement that Jin Air will be the promised budget offshoot of Korean Air. Flights start on July 17, and major routes will include flights from Seoul to the southwest city of Busan, and on to the holiday capital of Jeju Island.
The powers that be were going to call the new airline Air Korea but they must've had a marketing consultant in, because they have a ton of good reasons for going with Jin Air instead. One: Jin can mean "truth" and "sincerity"--nice qualities for an airline. Two: Jin also means jeans, and that's what the flight staff will be wearing, plus T-shirt. Very hip.
And three: By extension, the airline's already calling the crew jini because it makes them sound like magical genies who can do everything.
If you're a major airline in Asia right now, launching your own low cost version is really the in thing. Singapore Airlines has Tiger Airways, Asiana Airlines has just announced it's going to do the same thing, and any time soon, Korean Air is going to launch its budget version called Air Korea.
But Korean Air isn't satisfied with simply launching an LCC. The carrier's really, really busy right now. Apart from ordering an extra three A380s, on top of the five they'd already ordered, Korean Air has been busy creating a partnership with the Louvre museum in Paris.
Several aircraft flying the South Korea to Paris route will be decorated with the Mona Lisa, and in turn, the Louvre is launching a Korean language guide service. All of this while some of their flight attendants go on exchange. Now that's gettin' busy.
We've heard of high school exchange students or even swapping a teacher or two, but this is the first time we've known of a flight attendant exchange program. The ultra-glamorous flight attendants of Korean Air are about to be involved in an exchange program with their counterparts from China Southern Airlines.
Basically, the Korean Air gang has promised to help the China Southern crew learn the ropes; attendants from both airlines will work together on Korean Air routes between South Korea and China. The exchange bit happens when some Korean Air attendants turn up on China Southern flights, with the express purpose to "provide the most attentive service to the Korean passengers".
With the Beijing Olympics around the corner, Korean Air is keen to impress the large Chinese market, although the airline may not be too successful if they give the most attentive service to the Korean passengers. All we want to know is which flight attendants need to trade places to get us the most attentive service.
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by amandak
