Abacus International Broadens LCC Content Leadership With Exclusive Air Busan Agreement
Abacus International, Asia’s leading revenue partner for airlines, today announced the signing of a landmark five-year exclusive participation agreement with Korean Low Cost Carrier (LCC) Air Busan (BX), based in Busan, Republic of Korea.
The exclusive agreement, effective 1 August 2012, makes Air Busan the first Korean LCC to sign onto the Abacus system and marks the company’s initiation into the Korean LCC market. Under the terms of the full content parity agreement, Abacus-connected travel agents will be provided with complete access to the best of Air Busan’s fares and inventory.
“We are very excited to partner with Air Busan and privileged with their belief in our ability to provide them with the most effective distribution platform to reach out to their customers and support their growth in Asia,” said Ho Hoong Mau, Division Head, Airline Distribution, Abacus International. “This partnership is significant to Abacus as it marks our first foray into the Korean Low Cost Carrier industry. With our extensive network of travel agents across Asia, we will ensure that Air Busan will have a broad distribution solution that caters to the airline’s requirements in establishing itself as a leader in the Korean LCC market as well as with international expansion.”
Established in 2007, Air Busan is a growing regional LCC and a subsidiary of major Korean airline Asiana Airlines. It currently operates three domestic routes to Seoul and Jeju and maintains seven international routes to locations in countries such as the
Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and China. As part of its growth plans, the airline is looking to increase this number with additional flights to Kaohsiung in Taiwan as well as Macau.
Air Busan’s Vice President, Management Division, Mr Pan Ho Choi, said, “We are very pleased to enter in this partnership with Abacus. With their strength and expertise across Asia, we are confident they are the ideal partner to help us grow both our brand and presence in Asia. We hope that through this agreement, we will be able to leverage their extensive network to reach out effectively to our consumers.”
The agreement comes on the heels of a number of LCC-content agreements recently finalised by Abacus, including those with Mihin Lanka, Starflyer, AirAsia Philippines and Scoot.
