Jejuair tops Korean LCC rankings with 5.28 million passengers on China routes

Jejuair said Tuesday that its cumulative passenger count on China routes reached about 5.28 million through August this year, the highest among South Korean low-cost carriers.

Since launching its first scheduled service on the Incheon–Qingdao route in 2012, the airline has consistently expanded its China network to connect the two countries. It currently operates 14 routes to China, including Busan–Shanghai, with charter services included.

Jejuair secured additional China traffic rights twice this year. In April, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport allocated rights for the Busan–Guilin (four times weekly), Busan–Shanghai (three times weekly), Daegu–Shanghai (three times weekly), Jeju–Chengdu (twice weekly) and Jeju–Chongqing (three times weekly) routes. In September, the airline received further allocations for Incheon–Beijing (seven times weekly) and Incheon–Changsha (four times weekly).

With these additions, Jejuair now has the foundation to serve a total of 13 Chinese cities — its existing destinations of Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao, Weihai, Yanji, Harbin, Jiamusi, Shijiazhuang, Zhangjiajie and Guilin, plus the newly added Chongqing, Chengdu and Changsha. That is the largest number of Chinese destinations among domestic low-cost carriers.

The Incheon–Beijing and Incheon–Changsha traffic rights in particular give the airline a direct link from Incheon to the Chinese capital and to Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan.

Building on the traffic rights secured this year, Jejuair plans to expand its China routes while also increasing capacity on existing ones during the winter schedule.

From Oct. 25, when the winter schedule begins, the Busan–Shanghai route will increase from four flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday) to daily service through Dec. 15, adding three weekly frequencies on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Busan–Guilin route will extend operations through Nov. 29 on a four-times-weekly schedule (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday). The airline is also preparing to launch the Daegu–Shanghai and Jeju–Chengdu and Chongqing routes, for which it holds newly allocated traffic rights.

Frequency increases and schedule extensions are also planned for existing routes. The Incheon–Qingdao route will add four weekly flights (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday), rising from seven to 11 times a week from Oct. 25 through Dec. 31. The Incheon–Weihai route will add three weekly flights (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday), going from seven to 10 times a week through March 27 next year. The Busan–Zhangjiajie route will add two weekly flights (Monday and Thursday), increasing from twice to four times a week through Nov. 30.

In addition, three routes will have their operating periods extended: Incheon–Guilin (four times weekly, through Nov. 29), Daegu–Guilin (twice weekly, through Nov. 29) and Daegu–Shijiazhuang (twice weekly, through Nov. 18).

"As the domestic low-cost carrier operating the most China routes, we will further strengthen our competitiveness on those routes through the additional traffic rights secured this year, along with frequency increases and schedule extensions on key routes during the winter period," a Jejuair official said. "We will expand supply flexibly in line with demand and market conditions to broaden customers' travel options to China and continue growing the air corridor between the two countries."

Meanwhile, Jejuair ranked first in the domestic airline category of a customer satisfaction survey conducted by Korea Management Association Consulting, scoring 84 out of 100.

The assessment was based on three core indicators: factor satisfaction, overall satisfaction and intention to reuse. In the factor satisfaction category, which comprised 13 items, the airline received high marks particularly for the convenience of its booking and ticketing process, check-in procedures, in-flight service and membership benefits.