Air Premia transit passengers surge 454% in first half of 2026

Hybrid carrier Air Premia is strengthening its transit position at Incheon International Airport.

Air Premia carried 691,768 international passengers in the first half of this year, according to the Aviation Information Portal. Of those, 39,110 were transit passengers — a 454.2 percent increase from 7,057 in the same period last year. Transit passengers accounted for 5.6 percent of all international traffic at Incheon Airport, the third-highest share among South Korean carriers.

In March, the airline crossed the 10,000 monthly transit passenger mark for the first time, setting an all-time record. It has since maintained more than 7,000 transit passengers each month.

The increase is attributed to stronger competitiveness on trans-Pacific routes and growing demand for connections through Incheon. Some 38.7 percent of first-half transit passengers — 15,125 in total — connected via Air Premia's own routes, a sign of the carrier's long-haul network strength.

The New York–Incheon–Narita route generated the most self-connecting traffic, followed by Bangkok–Incheon–Los Angeles and New York–Incheon–Hong Kong.

The airline's interline network is also expanding rapidly. Interline transit passengers reached 4,941 in the first half, with Beijing, Shenyang, Osaka, Fukuoka and Manila among the key connecting points. The combination of its own network and interline partnerships is further sharpening Air Premia's transit competitiveness.

"The growth in transit passengers signals that Air Premia's connectivity, built on a long-haul network, is gaining strength," an airline official said. "We will continue to expand our network around cities with high transit demand, grow our airline partnerships, and increase the use of Incheon Airport by international travelers — contributing to Incheon's competitiveness as a global hub and to the broader Korean aviation industry."

Meanwhile, Air Premia ran a "Summer Black Friday" promotion in June, offering discounted economy and wide-premium class fares on nine routes to the Americas and Asia, as part of its ongoing marketing efforts to improve customer convenience.