Air Premia is a Korean start-up airline that plans to launch operations in 2020.
In April 2019, it signed a lease agreement with Aircraft Lease Corporation (ALC) for three 787-9s. Today, it announced that it has signed a tentative agreement with Boeing to buy further five.
Air Premia’s New 787-9 Order
The new order is valued at $1.4 billion at current list prices. However, it’s not reflected yet in the manufacturer’s order book as it has not been finalized yet.
When announcing the (tentative) commitment, Ihssane Mounir, Boeing’s Senior Vice President of Commercial Sales and Marketing said:
We are honored to welcome Air Premia as Boeing’s newest customer. As new entrants in Asia continue to launch innovative business models and strategies for growth, we are excited that Air Premia have selected the 787-9 Dreamliner to power their future fleet.
The timeframe during which the aircraft would be delivered if the order gets finalized is not clear yet. However, when signing the lease agreement earlier this year, the airline announced its plans to operate the three leased 787-9s by November 2020, and a total of ten 787-9s within five years.
Air Premia’s Plans
Established as AP Air in July 2017, the company’s name was changed to Air Premia in May 2018. Later that year, the airline applied for an air carrier license which it was granted in March 2019. Shortly after that, it signed the lease agreement with ALC.
Air Premia plans to launch operations out of Seoul Incheon airport in September 2020. Initially, it plans to operate medium-haul routes within the region before launching long-haul flights in 2021.
Interestingly, while the airline has not announced the shorter routes it plans to start with yet, it has made it clear which long-haul destinations it plans to serve. It expressed interest in launching flights to Los Angeles and San Jose while mentioning that Honolulu and Vancouver were on the radar as well.
As for its medium-haul destinations, destinations like Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur are some of the probable options.
While the configuration of Air Premia’s aircraft has not been announced yet, the “hybrid” (i.e. a mix of low-cost and full-service) airline plans to have both premium economy and economy class seats onboard.
It has indicated that its premium economy class will have 42 inches of seat pitch and offer services like priority check-in, boarding, and baggage handling. It will likely be similar to Scoot’s ScootPlus product.
In economy class, it plans to offer 35 inches of seat pitch.
Summary
After J.CAS, Air Premia is the second start-up airline that I heard of for the first time this week. Unlike J.CAS, though, this airline seems more “real.”
In terms of its business model, it seems to be similar to JAL’s upcoming low-cost, ZIPAIR Tokyo which plans to use 787-8s on flights from Tokyo to Seoul and Bangkok among other destinations in the region before expanding into the United States in 2021.
At this point, however, it is still unclear whether Air Premia will actually launch its flights to the United States as planned.
If it does so, though, it might become the first – or the second if ZIPAIR Tokyo manages to launch its transpacific operations first – low-cost carrier to connect the US mainland with Asia.
