The number of international transfer passengers this year on Jeju Air(089590) has surpassed 100,000.
Jeju Air said on the 18th that the number of international transfer passengers from January to July this year was about 106,600, up 18.4% from the same period last year.
By nationality, China was the largest with about 27,200, accounting for 25.5% of the total, or roughly one in four. That was a sharp increase of 74.3% from about 15,600 last year. By transfer route, Chinese travelers mainly passed through Korea to Osaka, Tokyo, Fukuoka and other Japanese destinations, as well as Saipan.
Japan ranked second with about 17,600, up 41.9%. Next were Mongolia at 11.9%, the Philippines at 8.2%, and the United States at 7.2%. Japanese travelers headed to Southeast Asia and China, including Cebu in the Philippines, Hanoi in Vietnam, and Bangkok in Thailand, while Mongolian travelers went to Tokyo and Osaka, and to Vietnam (Nha Trang and Phu Quoc).
Jeju Air operates international routes not only from Incheon but also from regional cities such as Busan and Jeju. Among domestic low-cost carriers (LCCs), it has the most, 21 interline partnerships, and also offers a service that connects as a single reservation all the way to Europe and the Americas.
The company said the increase in transfer passengers resulted from the expansion of such route networks and improvements in transfer convenience. A Jeju Air official said, "We will further strengthen our international competitiveness based on a solid route network and interline cooperation with global airlines."