With less than a month’s notice, Asiana Airlines has changed its equipment plan between Seoul Incheon and Frankfurt, Europe’s sixth-busiest airport by passengers. The Airbus A380 will now operate, replacing the A350. Europe will have regular Asiana A380 flights again, with seven of the world’s 10 superjumbo scheduled airlines flying to/from the continent.
Asiana usually adapts its A380 schedules with relatively little notice. Some routes change frequently, as if the airline is unsure how to use the massive equipment. As such, while Frankfurt flights are down to see the double-decker again, things may be readjusted.
Asiana’s Superjumbos Return To Frankfurt
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The 495-seat double-decker quadjet is, of course, by far the largest machine in the South Korean carrier’s fleet. Cirium Diio data shows the type first appeared in Frankfurt in March 2017 and operated daily until the pandemic forced it to stop in March 2020. It seemingly operated a handful of services to Germany’s busiest airport in 2023 and 2024. Now it is returning.
When writing, Aeroroutes shows the A380 will operate between August 7 and December 31. The aircraft will replace the 311-seat Airbus A350-900, which has been deployed for most of the past five years. It’ll provide an additional 59% seats per flight.
The route runs four times weekly, down from daily last year. Perhaps this reduction, along with the carrier’s current part-ownership position by Korean Air, explains why the superjumbo is returning. In addition to the return of Business Suites (formerly called first class; 1-2-1 layout), the swap means 38 additional business seats (1-2-1) and 170 more economy seats (3-4-3 downstairs and 2-4-2 upstairs). However, premium economy will no longer be available.
Days
Seoul Incheon To Frankfurt; Local Times
Frankfurt to Seoul Incheon; Local Times
Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays
OZ541: 09:45-16:30
OZ542: 18:50-13:40+1
Frankfurt Is A Huge Market From Seoul
Photo: Flightradar24
Booking data shows that 415,000 local round-trip passengers flew between Frankfurt and Seoul last year. More than 1,100 people did so daily. Frankfurt was the South Korean capital’s second-largest European point-to-point market after Paris CDG (443,000). No wonder the German airport has passenger flights by five carriers: Air Premia, Asiana, Korean Air, Lufthansa, and T’Way.
As usual, the demand is from multiple areas. They include the Korean diaspora in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area, which has among the largest concentrations in Europe, while Germany itself has 45,000+ Koreans. There are also significant business ties in the Frankfurt area, with many headquarters of large Korean companies.
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Frankfurt Will Now Have A380 Flights By 3 Carriers
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Examining the latest schedule for the rest of 2025 shows that Asiana, Emirates, and Singapore Airlines will now have double-decker service from Frankfurt. Asiana will operate four times weekly from Seoul, Emirates flies daily from Dubai on first-class-equipped aircraft (not its two-class, 615-seat configuration), and Singapore Airlines runs daily from Changi, also with first class.
Historically, various other operators used the A380 from Frankfurt: British Airways (yes, really), Korean Air, Lufthansa (they’re now fully operated from its Munich hub, supposedly due to a dispute over Frankfurt’s fees/charges), Qatar Airways, and Thai Airways.
Like several other carriers, Thai Airways retired its six-strong subfleet of superjumbos in spring 2020. The type flew to Frankfurt between 2012 and early 2020. It was one of three European airports to see it, alongside London Heathrow and Paris CDG. Only CDG saw the Star Alliance member’s A380s more often than Frankfurt.
