Drawings made in the sky: Jejuair launches in-flight art contest for young passengers

Jejuair is holding an in-flight drawing contest for young passengers this summer. Artwork created during the flight could be featured on the exterior of ramp buses at Jeju International Airport, offering families a one-of-a-kind travel memory.

Jejuair announced Tuesday that it will hold the 10th Haneulgil Drawing Contest, a sky-route drawing competition, for two weeks from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15.

This year's theme is "My Dearest Friend, Drawn Together with Jejuair." The contest is open to child passengers ages 5 to 13. No advance registration is required — children simply draw on paper and with colored pencils provided on board and hand their finished work to a cabin crew member.

The contest will run on routes popular with family travelers. Domestic routes cover flights from Gimpo, Busan, Gwangju, Cheongju, Daegu and Incheon to Jeju. Eight international routes are also included: Incheon to Macau, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Bohol, Cebu and Saipan, and Busan to Bohol.

However, because domestic flights to Jeju are short, only drawing paper will be provided on board. Participants may complete their drawings during their Jeju stay and submit them at Lounge J, Jejuair's lounge near Jeju International Airport.

The Haneulgil Drawing Contest has been a customer participation program since its launch in 2017. It was designed to let young passengers use their flight time to create artwork and preserve memories of family travel.

Submitted works will go through a judging process to select winners. All winners will receive a certificate from Jejuair's chief executive and Jejuair x Sanrio Characters merchandise.

Ticket prizes are also on offer. The gold prize winner receives four round-trip international tickets, three silver prize winners each receive two round-trip international tickets, and five bronze prize winners each receive two round-trip domestic tickets.

Winning works will appear in the fourth-quarter edition of Air Cafe, Jejuair's in-flight retail catalog. The airline will also produce special gifts — including pencil cases and keyrings — using the gold, silver and bronze winning designs, to be presented to the winners.

The gold prize artwork will be applied to the exterior of ramp buses operating at Jeju International Airport, letting airport visitors see the child's work during boarding and disembarkation.

A social media event will run alongside the contest. Participants who post a photo of their finished drawing or of a child drawing on board — with the hashtags #제10회하늘길그림그리기대회 and #제주항공하늘길그림그리기대회 on their personal accounts — will be entered into a draw, with 15 winners each receiving 30,000 J Points.

Jejuair has been expanding capacity on Jeju routes and short- to medium-haul international routes ahead of the peak summer season to meet strong family travel demand. In the first half of this year, it was the only low-cost carrier among South Korean airlines to transport more than 1 million passengers every month, sustaining a recovery in passenger demand.

"The Haneulgil Drawing Contest, now in its 10th year, is one of the leading drawing competitions independently operated by a South Korean airline," a Jejuair official said. "We will continue to offer a variety of customer participation programs so that we are remembered as a warm airline that gives family travelers even more special memories."