"So Many People Flying to China?" Air Routes Drastically Increased... Beneficiaries Revealed [Weekend Money]

Eugene Investment & Securities Predicts Benefits for Jeju Air and Other LCCs

As the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has allocated transportation rights for 25 international air routes, opinions have emerged that domestic low-cost carriers (LCCs) are expected to benefit.

Seungyoon Yang, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, stated, "We are focusing on Jeju Air's improved route portfolio, which has secured 11 weekly flights from Incheon to China, and the potential for earnings growth in 2027."

The Ministry distributed transportation rights for 25 international air routes to 10 domestic airlines after a review by the Air Traffic Review Committee on the 16th. According to Yang, "The key aspect of this allocation is that domestic LCCs have expanded entry into trunk routes from Incheon to China, based on strong passenger demand between Korea and China." Specifically, Jeju Air and Eastar Jet each secured seven weekly flights on the Incheon-Beijing route, while Air Premia and Parata Airlines secured three and four weekly flights, respectively, on the Incheon-Shanghai route.

Excerpt from Eugene Investment & Securities report

He explained, "As passenger demand from China has surpassed pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, and transportation rights between Korea and China have been expanded for the first time in seven years, which has resulted in increased allocations for airlines, the growth potential for LCCs' routes to China is expected to rise."

Yang highlighted that Jeju Air is particularly well-positioned. As of 2025, Jeju Air operates 25 weekly flights on the Incheon-China routes, transporting 400,000 passengers. If all 11 newly allocated weekly flights from Incheon are utilized, the total number of Incheon-China flights will increase to 36 per week. In particular, securing seven weekly flights on the Incheon-Beijing route marks Jeju Air's new entry into this key trunk route. This not only increases supply but also qualitatively improves its route portfolio. The additional annual passenger volume from the 11 new weekly flights from Incheon is estimated at approximately 170,000, accounting for about 43% of Jeju Air's Chinese passenger volume in 2025. Assuming the number of passengers from other regions remains at the current level this year, Jeju Air's proportion of passengers to Greater China is expected to rise from 13.4% in 2025 to 15.9% next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.