Jejuair expands China route capacity 26%, passenger numbers rise 37%

Jejuair has been rapidly adding seats on Korea-China routes, and passenger numbers are rising just as fast, according to figures compiled Monday.

The airline offered about 494,300 seats on Korea-China routes from January through July this year, up 26.8 percent from roughly 389,900 seats in the same period last year. Passengers over the same stretch totaled about 427,300, a 37.4 percent increase from around 311,000 a year earlier. The load factor climbed 6.6 percentage points year-on-year to 86.4 percent, compared with 79.8 percent last year.

Passenger growth of 37.4 percent outpaced seat supply growth of 26.8 percent by 10.6 percentage points. Jejuair attributed the trend to rising travel demand under the visa-free policy between the two countries, as well as a growing preference among travelers for short-haul destinations.

Travelers in their 20s and 30s made up the largest share of passengers at about 158,500, or 37.1 percent of the total. The routes most popular with that age group were Busan–Shanghai (Pudong), Jeju–Beijing (Daxing) and Incheon–Qingdao.

Those routes also posted strong load factors from January through July. The Busan–Shanghai (Pudong) route recorded 89.0 percent, Jeju–Beijing (Daxing) 89.7 percent and Incheon–Qingdao 93.5 percent — up 2.1, 13.7 and 10.8 percentage points, respectively, from a year earlier.

Chinese travel patterns, once dominated by group tours, have shifted toward individual and small-group trips, with more Free Independent Travel visitors seeking out each city's local culture — food, sightseeing and nightscapes. Jejuair said it has been capturing demand on regional departure routes from Busan and Jeju, not just from Incheon, to sharpen its competitiveness on China routes.

The airline currently operates 11 China routes: from Incheon to Qingdao, Weihai, Yanji, Harbin, Jiamusi and Shijiazhuang; from Busan to Shanghai (Pudong), Shijiazhuang and Zhangjiajie; and from Jeju to Beijing (Capital) and Beijing (Daxing). It is also reviewing plans to launch or increase flights this year on routes allocated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport — Busan to Guilin and Shanghai, Daegu to Shanghai, and Jeju to Chengdu and Chongqing.

"We will strengthen our competitiveness on China routes through flexible operations that reflect travel demand on both Incheon and regional departure routes," a Jejuair official said.