Jeju Air Carries 10.12 Million Passengers from January to September, Setting New Record

3.64 Million Passengers on Domestic Routes and 6.48 Million on International Routes

Jeju Air became the first domestic low-cost carrier to reach 10 million passengers this year.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Aviation Information Portal System on October 12, Jeju Air carried about 3,642,300 passengers on domestic routes and about 6,486,200 on international routes from January through September, for a total of about 10,128,500 passengers.

Jeju Air B737-8 aircraft. Jeju Air

This was a 13.1% increase (about 1,172,600 passengers) from the approximately 8,955,900 passengers recorded during the same period last year, and marked the highest passenger total ever recorded for this period.

Jeju Air has been expanding its route network this year, increasing flight frequencies and launching new services to Japan and China.

After increasing frequencies in May on the Incheon-Tokyo (Narita) and Incheon-Fukuoka routes, as well as the Busan-Osaka route, the airline launched a new Incheon-Kobe route in June with seven flights a week (daily). In July and August, it also increased frequencies on the Incheon-Nagoya and Incheon-Matsuyama routes to meet summer vacation demand.

On its China routes, Jeju Air increased frequencies on the Incheon-Weihai route in March, the Incheon-Yanji route in July, and the Incheon-Qingdao route in September. It also launched a new Busan-Guilin route in September and resumed service on the Incheon-Guilin route.

From January through September, passengers on Japan routes totaled about 3,703,200, up 29.1% from approximately 2,869,500 during the same period last year. Passenger numbers on China routes reached about 582,400, up 34.1% from approximately 434,300.

The average load factor this year was 91%. The route with the highest load factor was Incheon-Tokyo (Narita) at 94.3%, followed by ▲Incheon-Da Nang at 93.4% ▲Incheon-Fukuoka at 93.2% ▲Incheon-Qingdao at 93.1% and ▲Incheon-Nha Trang at 93%.

The Incheon-Osaka route carried the most passengers, at about 633,600, followed by ▲Incheon-Tokyo (Narita) with about 618,700 ▲Incheon-Fukuoka with about 448,100 ▲Busan-Osaka with about 212,000 and ▲Incheon-Nagoya with about 203,400. The Incheon-Tokyo (Narita) and Incheon-Fukuoka routes ranked among the top routes both in load factor and passenger numbers.

A Jeju Air official said, "As travel costs have become a greater burden due to high oil prices and a weak won, demand appears to have risen for medium- and short-haul routes, which offer relatively affordable travel." The official added, "Next year, we plan to continue expanding customers' choices by closely monitoring market demand and operating our routes efficiently."

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