Málaga Test Run Signals More Korean Flights for Portugal

Portugal’s travel sector has spent the last year watching an unusual aviation courtship unfold just across the border. A handful of charter flights linking Seoul and Málaga has opened a new door to southern Europe for Korean holiday-makers—and the experiment is already echoing in Lisbon, where Korean Air’s first Portuguese service is posting robust load factors. In short, Spain is testing the water for year-round Far-Eastern demand, and the numbers coming out of Andalucía are likely to influence when, or whether, the carrier scales up its presence on this side of the Guadiana.

Why Portuguese readers should pay attention

For anyone living in Portugal, the obvious headline is that Korean Air’s Lisbon route—born in September last year—has been quietly turning in an average 84 % seat occupancy. Those results strengthen the argument for more Asian connectivity at national airports just as ANA, Turismo de Portugal and regional authorities debate incentives for long-haul carriers. If Málaga proves it can fill wide-body jets in the shoulder season, Faro or Porto could plausibly frame the same case. Moreover, Korean tourists are often flagged in industry studies as “high-value travellers”, outspending some traditional European markets by a factor of two or more. Every successful Iberian initiative therefore raises the stakes for Portuguese hospitality businesses hoping to tap into that spending power.

Inside the Málaga trial

The Andalusian operation is deliberately modest: four round-trip charters scheduled between 12 October and early November. Each leg employs a Boeing 777-300ER configured for 291 passengers across three cabins. The capacity is marketed almost entirely through Hanjin Travel, Korean Air’s tour subsidiary, which packages the flights with nine-night itineraries that roam from Málaga to Seville, Granada and Cádiz. Local authorities signed on because the experiment dovetails with the city’s 2025-2028 strategic plan to lure long-haul, big-spending visitors. For Korean Air, the upside is a live test of seasonal demand without the long-term commitment or slot negotiations that a scheduled route requires. If cabin-factor targets are met, the airline has signalled it could elevate Málaga to the same status as Madrid and Barcelona, both of which already enjoy year-round Seoul service.

Lisbon’s head start and the fleet question

When Portuguese aviation officials pressed for a direct link to Asia, they accepted a conservative model: three weekly departures—Wednesday, Friday and Sunday—on the Boeing 787-9. That compromise limited risk yet still delivered approximately 10 000 passengers in the first six months, helped by honeymoon traffic and the resurging Korean cruise segment. The next step is fleet modernisation; Korean Air plans to switch to the Airbus A350-900 on certain European rotations from late 2025, bringing a mooted Premium Economy cabin that could push yields higher without cannibalising Business Class. Expansion to four or five flights per week is on the drawing board for 2026, but executives say the priority is to “consolidate” Lisbon’s profitability before stretching resources. The Málaga pilot, therefore, operates not in competition with but as a barometer for where extra aircraft hours might generate the best return.

Spending patterns: lessons from Andalucía

Málaga’s tourism office has long argued that Korean visitors are exactly the clientele its museums and boutique hotels need. A 2018 snapshot in nearby Seville pegged daily expenditure at roughly €350, and more recent regional estimates suggest South-Korean guests spend 2.5 × the average British tourist. Early charter bookings for this October show a preference for centrally-located four- and five-star accommodation, gastronomic add-ons such as experiencias de oliva in Jaén, and upgrades to small-group Alhambra tours—all services that push the total trip cost well above €3 000. For hoteliers and tour operators in Portugal, the takeaway is straightforward: tailor-made cultural content and seamless logistics justify premium pricing when dealing with this market. If the Málaga trial converts into a scheduled route, it could create a two-country circuit—Lisbon inbound, Málaga outbound—that intensifies Korean spending across the Iberian peninsula.

The road ahead: what Portuguese airports can emulate

Negotiations between Korean Air, Aena and Andalusian officials illustrate a template Portugal might refine. First, tourism boards funded a joint marketing push in Seoul six months before the inaugural flight. Second, airport fees were discounted on a temporary, sliding scale that rewards load-factor milestones rather than pure volume. Third, local governments committed to upgrading K-friendly signage, payment systems like T-money acceptance, and Korean-language visitor apps. Portugal already excels in multilingual hospitality, but a targeted campaign—especially in Porto, whose UNESCO heritage downtown mirrors the cultural appeal of Granada—could accelerate a second Korean link.

Airlines typically finalise the following year’s summer schedules by each October. That means load-sheet data from the charter flights landing now in Málaga will land on the desks of Korean Air planners just as they close the books on Lisbon’s first full year. Should both sets of numbers look healthy, the likelihood that 2026 brings more Korean frequencies—and perhaps a direct flight into Francisco Sá Carneiro—moves from wishful thinking to a credible scenario. Until then, every seat sold on the small batch of Andalusian charters doubles as a vote of confidence in Iberia’s broader appeal to Asia’s increasingly adventurous outbound market.