American Airlines announced Thursday that it would from Friday begin a non-stop service connecting Seoul and Dallas, the first direct route by the U.S. airline between the two countries.

The daily flight will be operated by a three-class Boeing 777-200 aircraft with a late afternoon departure from Incheon arriving into Dallas the same afternoon, local time, the company said.

American Airlines is seeking to expand its presence in Asia, with its merger with U.S. Airways awaiting antitrust approval. The merger would create the world’s biggest airline.

“As one of the top 10 premium markets in the world, South Korea has long been an important market for American and by inaugurating a new nonstop service to Korea, we will expand our global network further in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Timothy Ahern, the airline’s vice president of New York and international operations.

The company also hinted at plans to hire new crew members, including those who are fluent in Asian languages such as Korean.

According to Incheon International Airport, the number of travelers using Korea-U.S. routes has grown by an average of 8.3 percent every year over the past decade.

With American Airlines’ new launch, the airport predicted the figure would surge from the current 4.8 million last year to 5.5 million this year.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)