Debt Ridden Asiana Airlines to Be Sold
We could be seeing the beginning of the end of Asiana Airlines:
Thirty-one years and two months ago, Asiana Airlines was founded. Very soon, it could be history after its controlling shareholder said it would be selling off the debt-laden carrier.
Asiana Airlines was formed in 1988, the year the Olympic Games were held in Seoul, as Seoul Air International.
Joong Ang Ilbo
The Chun Doo Hwan government in February 1988 approved the Kumho Group, as it was known at the time, to form the country’s second private airline. The market had been monopolized by Korean Air.
The Summer Games put Korea on the global map, but there was a shortage of flights to transport the visitors. In August 1988, Asiana inaugurated its first service and changed its name in December.
While the airline first operated with a single Boeing 737, it enjoyed the Golden Age of travel in the 1990s along with its competitor as the government lifted the overseas travel ban, and Koreans started going abroad en masse.
You can read more about Asiana Airlines at the link. I like flying Korean Air better than Asiana Airlines, but I still thought it was a good airline. I would rather fly Asiana than any of the major US airlines.
Asiana has had tenuous at best links with its supposed member group, Star Alliance, for some years, can’t print boarding passes for connecting flights with United, etc. Asiana also has some OLD configured planes. You never know if you’ll get a modern seat or a relic in Business class or economy.
“I would rather fly Asiana than any of the major US airlines.”
Except Flt 214 on 6 Jul 2013 which crashed on landing at SFO.
Otherwise, I agree.