USFK to resume chartered airline service in S. Korea

SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) will resume using chartered
flights to carry its soldiers and their families to and from South Korea in April
for more efficient travel, a U.S. military paper reported Friday.
The Patriot Express, the U.S. military-chartered commercial air service, had
flown about two-thirds of U.S. troops traveling to and from South Korea each year
before it was halted in October 2005 in a Defense Department cost-cutting move.
Since then, servicemembers have entered or left the peninsula aboard commercial
flights at Incheon International Airport, about a 90- to 120-minute bus or taxi
drive from Osan Air Base, and 60 to 75 minutes from Yongsan Garrison in downtown
Seoul.
The Stars and Stripes, a newspaper for U.S. forces, said new weekly flights
mainly between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in the U.S. and the Osan and
Kunsan air bases in South Korea will be the "principal way" for moving most U.S.
servicemembers to and from Korea duty.
USFK saved around US$67 million per year by halting the South Korea service. It
maintained, however, flights to and from the Yokota and Misawa air bases in
Japan, neighboring Korea.
Although intended primarily to accommodate troops and their families moving to or
from duty stations in the Western Pacific, the flights also can handle
space-available travelers on leave. More fuel-efficient chartered aircraft are
being added to the Pacific routes, Stars and Stripes reported.
Starting in April, the contract carriers will fly the Boeing 767, which can fly
longer without having to refuel and typically has room for about 20 percent more
passengers than the Boeing 757s that have been in use.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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