Vegas thankful for Korean Air today, hopeful for future

By Richard N. Velotta

Friday, Oct. 1, 2010 | 3 a.m.

At McCarran International Airport last week, a group of old friends celebrated Chuseok at one of the Terminal 2 gates.

That’s Korea’s version of Thanksgiving and the date coincided with the fourth anniversary of the startup of air service between Seoul, Korean Air’s headquarters and primary hub, and Las Vegas, one of the airline’s 11 North American gateways.

As great as KAL’s partnership with Las Vegas has been over the past four years, the airline has more to look forward to in the years ahead if all the pieces fall into place.

KAL, a top-20 world carrier, flies the Las Vegas route three times a week. Officials at the airline and at McCarran would love to see that bumped up to daily service, which could happen if they and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority can successfully market Las Vegas as a superior gateway to Asia from the United States.

The airline, which has a fleet of 132 aircraft, operates nearly 400 passenger flights a day to 117 cities in 39 countries.

Right now, KAL is running as the eighth busiest international carrier serving McCarran, ranking behind WestJet, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada, Aeromexico and Philippine Airlines. But much of that can be attributed to KAL having just three flights a week compared with daily service and multiple flights from the other carriers.

KAL showed off its 333-passenger Boeing 747 jumbo jet to the local media and other guests on the anniversary. Since Sept. 22, 2006, KAL has flown more than 221,000 travelers between Seoul and Las Vegas, resulting in an estimated $120 million nongaming economic impact. The route is a big part of why Korea is the seventh-largest international market for Las Vegas.

When the $2.4 billion Terminal 3 opens its doors in 2012, it will create some new opportunities for KAL and Las Vegas. Six of the 14 new gates at Terminal 3 can be designated for inbound international flights. The international security checkpoint and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection port will be expanded so that arriving passengers can clear the airport faster than they do at busier ports like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The mission of the airline, the LVCVA and the airport will be to convince people that it would be easier to make their way to and from Asia through Las Vegas than the West Coast. KAL officials already are looking at opportunities east of Las Vegas and there are plenty of airports that currently don’t have international flights to Asia — Reno, Denver and Albuquerque among them.

The partners also need to get the word out about KAL’s network on the Asia side of the Pacific. From Seoul, the airline has connections to Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and mainland China.

The Las Vegas flight to Seoul currently arrives at about 4 a.m., so there are numerous connection opportunities to Asia. And, Incheon International is a gorgeous airport with a hotel onsite for passengers who want to catch a few hours of sleep before continuing to their next destination.

McCarran’s Terminal 3 opening will add to Las Vegas’ status as an international gateway, but KAL itself may be able to boost the viability of its product with new aircraft it will be receiving beginning next year.

John Jackson, KAL’s Americas marketing director, said the airline next year will be taking delivery of some Airbus A380 jets, the double-decked jumbos that have supplanted the Boeing 747 as the largest commercial passenger aircraft in the air. Jackson said the airline also would start getting a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the lightweight twin-engine jet made of carbon composite material that is expected to reduce fuel consumption and operate at between 10 percent and 25 percent of the cost of today’s mostly metal planes.

KAL’s operation of those new aircraft could help Las Vegas in the long run, although it isn’t likely we’d seen any of those jets here.

If KAL were to deploy its new A380s on routes currently served by 747s — Jackson mentioned a Los Angeles-New York route as a possibility — it could free up the 747s and beef up Las Vegas service.

It isn’t likely that KAL would fly a 787 jet to Las Vegas since there are more prominent routes in the airline’s system where the airline would want to showcase the jet that Boeing has been saying is a game-changer in aviation, not only because of the lower operational costs but because the pressurization in the planes would make for a more comfortable flying experience.

But it has to be in the back of some people’s minds that the increased range of the 787 could someday result in nonstop routes from other Asian destinations to Las Vegas.

Would KAL consider nonstop flights from other Asian cities to Las Vegas? It isn’t likely, but Las Vegas has quietly benefited from some of KAL’s other international connections. For example, Jackson said some of KAL’s passengers from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Los Angeles find their way to Las Vegas via connecting flights. It’s hard to track how many Brazilians KAL has brought to Las Vegas; the Sao Paulo route began earlier this year.

KAL isn’t the first Asian carrier that has brought travelers to Las Vegas on nonstop flights.

The city’s first nonstop flights were from Tokyo on an American carrier, Northwest Airlines, which flew the route twice a week in the late 1990s. When Japan Airlines discovered the strength of the market, it launched its own Tokyo-Las Vegas flights banking on Japanese customers remaining loyal to Japan’s flagship carrier.

They were right, and Northwest quickly exited the market.

Singapore Airlines, one of the top-rated airlines in the world, capitalized on the growth of Macau as a gaming market and introduced flights that originated in Singapore, stopped in Hong Kong and continued on to Las Vegas. Macau is a short boat ride from Hong Kong.

But Singapore quit the route less than a year after starting it when the SARS outbreak and the specter of global terrorism gripped Asian passengers with fear and resulted in far fewer travelers.

Fortunately for Las Vegas, KAL was confident that it could serve the Asian niche and began flying the Seoul route with Boeing 777 jets.

While the Seoul route started as a nonstop round trip, KAL has since altered the schedule. Today, the inbound flights from Seoul are nonstops, but the return is via Los Angeles International Airport.

Some Las Vegas-based businessmen love the KAL experience but aren’t crazy about the stopover in Los Angeles. The timetable and flying over the international date line results in the scenario that a passenger can leave on, say, Wednesday at around 8 p.m., and arrive in Seoul Friday at 4 a.m.

Ryan Lee, who operates the Kobe Sushi Bistro on South Rainbow Boulevard, said he flies to Korea about four times a year and hasn’t yet experienced the flight with the Los Angeles stop, but he likes KAL enough to keep using it.

The Los Angeles stopover shows how important it will be to beef up Las Vegas as an international gateway.

The LVCVA knows how important the international market is. It says international travelers tend to spend about $950 a trip, about $400 more than the average Las Vegas visitor. Foreign visitors tend to stay longer — 4.4 days on average, nearly a full day longer than their domestic counterparts.

While KAL’s Las Vegas flight includes the stopover in Los Angeles that adds a couple of hours to the trip, it assures the airline of filling more seats on the trip. And that’s what it’s all about for an airline. KAL officials said they have no trouble filling up the coach section of the aircraft on flights to and from Seoul. It’s the business class and first-class cabins that are hard to fill and there’s a greater chance of booking those seats to Los Angeles business travelers if the plane stops in L.A.

Many passengers who fly directly to Las Vegas from Seoul purchase fly-drive packages that enable them to sightsee in the Southwest and drive to Southern California, enabling them to return to Korea from Los Angeles.

Korean Air has some great opportunities to boost its own business while boosting the fortunes of Las Vegas in the future.

But for now, McCarran and the LVCVA are just thankful that they are here.