Delta Air Lines opens Seoul-Salt Lake City direct flight route

Delta Air Lines on Thursday opened its first-ever nonstop flight connecting Seoul to Salt Lake City in Utah, further elevating the trans-Pacific gateway between Korea and the United States.

Jeff Moomaw, vice president for Asia Pacific for Delta Air Lines, speaks during a press conference celebrating the airline's opening of a new route connecting Incheon and Salt Lake City, Utah, in central on June 12. [DELTA AIR LINES]

Delta Air Lines on Thursday opened its first-ever nonstop flight connecting Seoul to Salt Lake City in Utah, further elevating the trans-Pacific gateway between Korea and the United States.

All passengers are eligible to book flights via both Delta and Korean Air apps under the duo’s longstanding codeshare partnership since their joint venture in 2018.

“Salt Lake City is the 14th unique market being served between the U.S. and Seoul with Delta and Korean Air; This also represents the only direct service to Asia from Salt Lake City,” said Jeff Moomaw, vice president for Asia Pacific for Delta Air Lines during a press conference in central Thursday.

“Salt Lake City is one of eight hubs that Delta Air Lines operates in the United States, with 265 daily flights connecting to 96 destinations across the country,” Moomaw said. “It completes the connectivity across all of Delta hubs in the United States and it gives unrivaled access to our customers.”

The Incheon-Salt Lake City flight is also Delta’s first entirely new direct route from Korea in six years.

Delta Air Lines' airplane connecting Incheon and Salt Lake City, Utah. [DELTA AIR LINES]

The service operates daily during the summer season and three times a week in the winter. Served by the Airbus A350-900, featuring four types of configuration ranging from premium cabins to economy seating.

Delta Air will add 13 K-drama contents for in-flight service.

Salt Lake City International Airport, meanwhile, enhanced the transit experience for expected Korean travelers. The airport enables domestic connections within 55 minutes, with more than 10 Korean-speaking staff members stationed throughout the airport.

“At Incheon Airport, we have a special room behind the scenes; It is staffed with both Delta and Korean Air staff monitoring every joint customer coming through Incheon,” Moomaw said. “That allows them to work together if anything is going wrong at all, if any flight is slightly delayed, to be able to proactively reaccommodate those customers right then and there without the customer seeing a thing.”

Regarding the issue surrounding Hoban Group's recent acquisition of a stake in Hanjin KAL, the holding company of Korean Air, Moomaw said Hoban's acquisition “is perfectly natural.”

Hoban Group recently purchased additional stakes in Hanjin KAL, making it the second-largest stakeholder with a total stake of 18.46 percent. Though the group described the purchase as a “simple investment,” speculations sparked possibilities of conflicts over management control.

Hanjin KAL Chairman Walter Cho and his close allies hold 20.75 percent. Delta Air is the third largest with 14.9 percent.

“We are very confident in Walter Cho and the Korean Air management team. The same is true of Hanjin KAL,” Moomaw added.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]