As flights connecting Incheon Airport and Jeju Airport resume after 10 years, attention is on whether the route can secure revenue. Some in the aviation industry are concerned it will not be easy, given that the Incheon–Jeju route long struggled with low profitability in the past.
According to the aviation industry on the 14th, Jeju Air began operating the newly launched Incheon–Jeju route on the 12th. Jeju Air is deploying a 189-seat B737-8 on the route with two round trips per week.
Jeju Air said the first flight operated the previous day recorded a 93.1% load factor, and noted it plans to improve travel convenience for Jeju residents and target demand from foreign tourists entering Jeju.
However, some in the aviation industry say that because the route posted chronic losses for 16 years after Incheon Airport opened and was then suspended, it will be difficult for Jeju Air to avoid operating in the red.
After Incheon Airport opened, the Incheon–Jeju route was operated by Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines. But due to weak demand, the load factor hovered around 50%, and it was considered a chronically loss-making route. This was because most Seoul–metropolitan area travelers to and from Jeju gravitated to Gimpo Airport rather than Incheon Airport.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's aviation information portal system, the Incheon–Jeju route peaked in 2012 with 910 flights and 112,197 passengers, then was steadily scaled back until it was suspended in Oct. 2016.
For the Gimpo–Jeju route, there were 34,990 flights and 5,509,928 passengers in 2012. Last year, the Gimpo–Jeju route recorded 40,666 flights and 7,551,597 passengers, respectively.
In the aviation industry, the view is that to operate the Incheon–Jeju route normally with the B737-8 Jeju Air is deploying, more than 140 passengers per flight must be maintained. From 2009, when passenger statistics by route began, to 2016, the average number of passengers per flight on the Incheon–Jeju route was 115.
Jeju Air plans to target rising demand from foreign tourists entering Jeju. In fact, the number of foreign visitors entering Jeju last year was 2.24 million, up 17.7% from 2019.
Some also argue that because Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is a major shareholder of Jeju Air, the decision to resume the Incheon–Jeju route put more weight on improving residents' travel convenience and meeting government policy needs than on profitability.
Jeju Province recommended resuming the Incheon–Jeju route to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the National Assembly in Nov. 2024. At the recent 11th National Tourism Strategy Meeting, President Lee Jae-myung also ordered a review of ways to strengthen consolidation between Incheon Airport and regional airports.