KE to MSP???
 

I have never, for the life of me seen Adverstisements on TV in the MSP market for KE on TV, but very occassionaly in the Start Trib.. Suddenly over the past several weeks, i've been seeing tons of ad's on TV for KE. I've seen it at least once or twice a week... I have a friend who's father until recently was working at NWA, in a very high level position, but has now taken a different job. He kept mentioning that there were rumors in the Rumor mill at NW that KE is in the works of studying the market in MSP to see the viability of a service to MSP... and being that they are partners.. He also mentioned from time to time, NW hosted several KE highly important officals from time to time and at each meeting MAC was there.. Seems to me KE is starting to build a brand recognition in MSP. You think KE is in the works to start service to MSP? When I was flying from MSP to CUN on 29-Feb. I noticed on the board that NW19 to NRT had a KE codeshare # on it...

I'd say that IAH, DTW, and MSP are the three most likely candidates for KE's next route to North America, in each instance because of SkyTeam hub connections. IAH has the oil-services market, but oil's not a huge industry in Korea. DTW has the auto-industry, and autos are big in Korea, but a lot of Korean car companies' factories and operations in the US are in the South, not Michigan. MSP has...?

Chances of KE to MEM: slim to none.

I've noticed a lot of Korean Air ads in general this year, all over the country. Don't they offer more gateways in North America than any other Asian carrier? I'm sure some more brand awareness can't hurt them.

I'd personally like to see them in IAH but I could be content with MSP or DTW as well. I would also like to see it be a near-midnight flight to allow a morning connection in Seoul but it seems like nearly all of the secondary gateways KE flies to get noon or early afternoon flight that force a late day connection in Seoul getting into south asia REALLY late at night.

MSP: 3M, Cargill headquarters, large # of East Asian, Southwest Asian and Southeast Asian population. It would open a world of connections to them. Via ICN you can practically fly anywhere in Asia.

You have? Hm.. but seeing that i've never seen adevertisements on TV in Minnesota before, it seems odd. I've occasionally seen adverts. in the paper but never on T.V. In fact, I just saw one again today. The only reason why it would seem apparent to me that they've been doing this Avertisement saturation in Minnesota,, may it seem that they are close to annoucing service to MSP??

KE actually has the commercial on CNN. Forgot what times they're on.

Also, I remember last November when I was in Los Angeles, they played the commercial every 90-120 seconds interval on a tv billboard near ASIANA's ticketing office on Wilshire.

The commercial still runs pretty frequently on CNN. The other day I saw a clip of it on the little Captivate thing in the elevator in my office building here. Of course, unlike MSP, KE does have a service to Atlanta.

Yes, I've seen the one on CNN, but i'm also saying i've seen a few times the same commerical being aired on the local CBS or ABC channel in the MSP area. just pointing that out...

In many situations for radio and TV ads, it is cheaper to run them nationally, or shotgun-targeted, then to actually exclude certain markets.

A great example of this Sonics Drive In. There are two in all of Southern California - one in Anaheim, the other in El Centro, 120 miles east of San Diego. There are none in the San Francisco-San Jose Metros, and 1 in Sacramento. We're talking about 2 Sonics that are within driving distance of 27-30 million people. Most people in LA, San Jose, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento couldn't tell you where one is - rightfully so. However, its just way easier to buy nationally-targeted ad inventory.

Another example would be Emirates advertising in the Wall Street Journal. They only fly to JFK, but I see their ads in the WSJ in LA, SF, and when I travel to other cities.

Whats my point? Sure, its possible that KE is coming to MSP. It also could just be the economics of advertising.

Good observations, cstead.

One thing, though: Emirates flies to JFK and IAH now, it is launching LAX service in a couple of months, and SFO is under discussion, I think.

Perhaps I should grab my copy of the Journal here in ATL and see if it has an Emirates ad. Probably does, for the reasons cstead explained.

As for Sonic, maybe California should consider itself lucky. ;)

Good point, and no doubt the several years of advertising, plus the hearsay from people abroad, has helped to build up EK's reputation in the States for when they do expand.

I don't want to hijack the thread.. but... keeping to the central point at hand... does anybody know if KE is cooking up plans to expand to other cities in US??

Korean Air is planning passenger service to Houston and Miami, but they are on hold with the way fuel prices are right now.

I'm looking for an answer about MSP not MIA or IAH.. I thought they already flew to IAH or is that DFW???

Then you should have phrased your question "does anybody know if KE is cooking up plans to expand to MSP?" rather than "other cities in the US."

Korean Air flies to Dallas, not Houston.

They have absolutely no plans to fly to Minneapolis, a market that is far too small for them.