Emerging Africa-Asia market continues to grow with Korean Air service to Nairobi from Seoul

Connections between Africa and Asia will grow from 21-Jun-2012 with Korean Air's seasonal three-times weekly service between Seoul and Nairobi, Kenya. The hub-to-hub flight will link Korean Air's Asian-focused hub to the extensive and growing African hub of fellow SkyTeam carrier Kenya Airways, which plans to serve every African capital city within five years.

The Africa-Asia market will boom this decade, according to Airbus projections that see Africa having the highest percentage growth of traffic to or from Asia. Korean Air's route follows charter services to Nairobi as well as the signing in Dec-2011 of a trade agreement between South Korea and Kenya.

Korean Air will be the only Asian airline to serve East Africa, which geographically and combined with a partner's hub allows for greater traffic feed across Africa. Asian airlines have predominantly focused on serving South Africa while African carriers serve multiple Asian points.