Air Premia

Air Premia is one of Asia’s youngest long-haul airlines – and one of the most straightforward fleets you can imagine. Nine Boeing 787-9s, one hub, no business class: the South Korean airline has deliberately positioned itself between a budget carrier and a classic network airline. For spotters in Europe it is a rare visitor, but precisely for that reason a rewarding entry. Here you learn how Air Premia works, how to recognize its Dreamliners and where you can see them.

Air Premia at a glance

Air Premia is a South Korean airline headquartered in Seoul with its hub at Seoul Incheon Airport. It was founded in July 2017, initially under the name AP Air; the current name came in May 2018. Behind the founding was Kim Jong-chul, who had previously been president of Jeju Air – someone who knew the low-cost business in South Korea from the inside.

The road into the air took longer than hoped. Originally Air Premia wanted to launch as early as 2020, but the pandemic slowed the plans. In April 2021 the airline took delivery of its first Boeing 787-9, and on August 11, 2021 the first flight followed – unusually modestly on the domestic route between Seoul Gimpo and Jeju. That phase was over quickly: in late October 2021 Air Premia withdrew from the domestic market and has since focused entirely on international routes.

In the early days cargo also played a role. Because passenger traffic was hardly possible during the pandemic, Air Premia temporarily used its Dreamliners for pure cargo flights, including to Singapore, Vietnam and Bangkok. Today passenger service is clearly the focus.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code YP: appears in the flight number, on departure boards and in bookings.
• ICAO code APZ: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign AIR PREMIA: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The combination is easy to remember but not self-explanatory: neither YP nor APZ obviously derives from the name. If you see a 787-9 with APZ on a tracker, you have found Air Premia. How to read ADS-B data correctly and filter flights is explained in the guide on flight tracking for spotters.

The concept: hybrid instead of low-cost or network

Air Premia describes itself as a hybrid airline. Behind it is the idea of filling the gap between two worlds. On one side are the big network airlines like Korean Air with first and business class, alliance and connecting network. On the other side are low-cost airlines that sell almost only economy and usually operate narrowbody jets on short and medium routes.

Air Premia takes something from both:

• Widebody jets on long-haul like a network airline,
• but no business class, rather a large premium economy as the best product,
• a single aircraft type and one hub like low-cost carriers,
• no alliance, but individual interline agreements, for example with Korean Air, Alaska Airlines and Thai Airways.

On this site we therefore file Air Premia under the low-cost airlines, although the term doesn’t quite fit the model. The closest comparisons are other young long-haul operators with widebody jets: ZIPAIR from Japan and Norse Atlantic Airways from Norway, which also use Dreamliners, or French bee from France, which flies the Airbus A350.

The fleet: only Boeing 787-9s

Air Premia’s fleet is quickly described – and that is exactly what makes it so pleasant for spotters.

Type	Number (as of 2025/2026)	Seats (typical)	Cabin	Spotter note
Boeing 787-9	9	309	Premium economy + economy	Only type, HL registration

Known registrations of the fleet include HL8387, HL8388, HL8389, HL8516 and HL8517. By 2025 the fleet grew step by step to nine aircraft. Further growth is difficult because Boeing is behind worldwide on 787 deliveries. In early 2024 it was reported that Air Premia might lease several 787-9s from Korean Air in connection with the merger of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. In late 2025 came reports that the airline was also looking at widebody jets from Airbus because of the delivery delays. Both are interesting for fleet planning, but as of October 2026, to our knowledge, neither has led to a fleet change. The manufacturer of today’s fleet is Boeing.

The cabin: premium economy as the top product

The typical Air Premia 787-9 has 309 seats in two classes:

Class	Seats	Layout	Seat pitch (approx.)
Premium economy	56	2-3-2	42 inches (just over 106 cm)
Economy	253	3-3-3	35 inches (just under 89 cm)

The numbers 42 and 35 also appear in the airline’s product names. Economy in particular stands out: 35 inches of seat pitch on long-haul is more than many network airlines offer in their economy. Not all aircraft are configured the same – fleet overviews also show variants with more seats.

You can’t see the cabin from the outside, of course. For recognition it is therefore secondary – type, registration and code are what count. The seating only becomes exciting when you fly along yourself and see premium economy with its wide seats in a 2-3-2 layout from the inside.

How to recognize Air Premia

Attribution is easier at Air Premia than at almost any other airline:

You can read more about how registrations are built and about country prefixes like HL- in the article Understanding aircraft registrations.

787-9, 787-8, 787-10 or A350?

At Air Premia the answer is always 787-9 – still, it is worth learning to tell the Dreamliner variants apart reliably. That way you train your eye for other airlines at the same time.

• 787-8: the shortest version, looks stubby. Behind the wing the fuselage is noticeably shorter.
• 787-9: the middle length, which flies for example at Air Premia or Norse. The fuselage ahead of and behind the wing looks balanced.
• 787-10: the longest version, visibly stretched; on long-haul from Seoul you see it for example at Korean Air.

Common to all 787s are the raked, upward-curving wingtips without a separate winglet, the serrated trailing edges on the engine nacelles and the cockpit with four windows. The most common mix-up is the Airbus A350, which looks similarly modern – how to tell the two apart is shown in the guide A350 or Boeing 787?. If you are generally unsure about widebody jets, Telling the Boeing 777 and 787 apart also helps.

The route network

Air Premia flies in a star pattern from Seoul Incheon. Based on the known start dates, the network has developed step by step:

Region	Destinations (selection)	Since
North America	Los Angeles	October 2022
North America	New York Newark	May 2023
North America	San Francisco	May 2024
North America	Honolulu	July 2025 (again, after a phase in 2023/2024)
North America	Washington Dulles	April 2026
Asia	Bangkok	March 2022
Asia	Tokyo Narita	December 2022
Asia	Hong Kong, Da Nang	January 2025

Flights to Sapporo from December 2026 and the resumption of Ho Chi Minh City in November 2026 have also been announced. Other destinations such as Singapore or Ankara have been dropped again by Air Premia. For spotters in North America and Asia the airline can therefore regularly be seen at big airports such as Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, Washington Dulles, Hong Kong, Tokyo Narita or Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.

Air Premia in Europe and Germany

For German spotters, Air Premia is above all a reminder of 2023. From late June to late December 2023 the airline flew between Seoul Incheon and Frankfurt Airport. During that time the 787-9 with an HL registration was a welcome exotic among the many Lufthansa long-haul jets. After that the route was discontinued; as of October 2026 there is no scheduled connection to Germany.

Otherwise Air Premia showed up in Europe only with charter flights, for example in Oslo and Barcelona in 2023. Such operations are hard to predict. If you want to catch a sighting in Europe, your best bet is to watch trackers and spotter forums – or set a sighting alert.

Should Air Premia come back to Frankfurt, the Zeppelinheim viewing platform is one of the obvious spots for landings. The Frankfurt guide gives an overview of the options at Germany’s biggest airport.

Spotting Air Premia in Seoul

At the hub in Incheon, Air Premia is a fixed part of long-haul traffic. There the airline departs and lands alongside Korean Air, Asiana and low-cost carriers such as Jin Air, t’way Air and Air Busan.

For spotters planning a trip to Asia, Incheon is therefore the best place to collect all nine aircraft one by one. Note down every registration, because from the outside the aircraft look practically identical.

Common mix-ups

• Thinking Air Premia is a subsidiary of Korean Air – the airline is independent, there is only an interline agreement.
• Lumping Air Premia together with Jeju Air – the founder came from Jeju Air, but the airlines have nothing to do with each other. Jeju Air flies mainly Boeing 737s.
• Logging an Air Premia 787 as a 787-10 – Air Premia flies exclusively the 787-9.
• Confusing YP flight numbers with other airlines – the ICAO code APZ on the tracker brings clarity.
• Expecting Air Premia in Frankfurt – the route ran only in 2023 and is discontinued.

Conclusion

Air Premia is a good example of the new generation of long-haul airlines: one aircraft type, one hub, a clearly tailored product. For spotters that means attribution is easy, and the challenge lies in collecting the individual registrations – and in getting the airline in front of your lens at all. In Germany that was only possible in 2023; if you want to see Air Premia today, you will find it in Seoul, on the US West Coast, in New York or in Tokyo.