The Incheon-UlaanBaatar route exclusive to South Korea’s national flag carrier Korean Air Lines Co. and its Mongolian counterpart MIAT Mongolian Airlines for almost 30 years will become open to other airlines.

Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Thursday it has agreed with the Mongolian authority to give new carriers rights to operate the Korea-Mongolia route and run more flights starting from the end of March.

Under the latest agreement, available seats on the route between Incheon and UlaanBaatar will be expanded from 1,488 to 2,500, and the route will be operated nine times a week at maximum. Daily flights from or to Incheon and Busan in Korea will also increase to three times from two.

The Korea-Mongolia route has been exclusively operated between national flag carriers of the two countries – Korean Air Lines and MIAT Mongolian Airlines – for almost 30 years since 1991 when the two countries signed an aviation agreement. The exclusive deal has allowed the two carriers to monopolize the route often making passengers on the route bear relatively higher flight ticket prices during the peak seasons compared to other routes with similar flight hours.

Asiana Airlines Inc. is expected to apply for flight operation on the Incheon-UlaanBaatar route, and budget carriers will likely follow suit.

The agreement will also allow airlines from other countries to take part in the existing code-sharing agreement, a move that is expected to enable passengers to easily travel other regions in Mongolia. Code-sharing is an agreement in which an airline can sell tickets of another airline that agrees to share code.

By Lee Jae-cheol and Lee Ha-yeon

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