Korea’s Jeju Air targets SE Asia in winter schedules
Having raised about KRW206.6 billion won (USD175 million) in funding through a recent rights issue, Jeju Air (7C, Jeju) is now ramping up international services as South Korea prepares for its cold winter season by launching routes southwards.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand and other Thai officials gathered at Chiang Mai airport on November 5 to greet the low-cost carrier’s inaugural flight from Seoul Incheon, which carried a group of 83 passengers, most of them golfing enthusiasts.
It was the first of six charter flights that will take more than 1,000 golfers to northern Thailand on one flight per week until December 10 as a result of cooperation between Jeju Air and the Artitaya Chiang Mai Golf Resort. These will resume in 2022 so that a total of 69 flights with a total capacity of 15,190 seats will operate from Incheon to Chiang Mai until the end of March, generating much-needed tourism-related revenue for the Thai region.
South Korea is among 63 approved countries and territories from which travellers can visit Thailand under quarantine-free entry requirements introduced on November 1.
Jeju Air also plans to operate 38 flights between the South Korean capital and Guam Int’l between November 25 and January 31 before launching it as a scheduled route depending on vaccination and infection rates, the company said in a statement on November 5.
The carrier had already resumed services to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in July. According to the ch-aviation capacities module, as of the week starting November 15, eight of Jeju Air’s 19 routes are international, to Cebu, Chiang Mai, Manila Ninoy Aquino Int’l, Osaka Kansai, Saipan, Tokyo Narita, Vientiane, and Weihai.
Jeju Air plans to add frequencies to these routes to meet growing demand for outbound travel and also expects to launch flights to Singapore Changi, as well as to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and other cities in Thailand, by the end of the year. However, it also said it had extended the suspension of its Matsuyama service by one month until December 31.