Cumulative passengers on Jeju Air's China routes topped 5 million for the domestic low-cost carrier (LCC) Jeju Air(089590).
On the 31st, Jeju Air cited Korea Air Transport Association statistics and said that since it launched regular service on the Incheon–Qingdao route in June 2012, a cumulative total of about 5.18 million people have used Jeju Air's China routes through last month. Of all LCC passengers on China routes from April 2010, when a Korean LCC first began operating China routes, to July this year (about 15.38 million), Jeju Air accounted for about one-third.
Since Jeju Air began service, total passenger numbers on China routes have also risen sharply. The Incheon–Qingdao route carried about 121,300 passengers in the third quarter of 2012, Jeju Air's first quarter of operation on the route, a 35.2% increase from the same period a year earlier (about 89,700). The Incheon–Weihai route also saw about 51,400 users in the third quarter of 2013, when Jeju Air launched the route, up 36% from the same period a year earlier (about 37,800).
Among the China destinations Jeju Air serves, the most visited is Weihai, with about 1,463,700 passengers over roughly 13 years since launch. Others are ▲Qingdao about 1.31 million ▲Beijing about 335,000 ▲Yanji about 303,900, in that order.
Passenger numbers on Jeju Air's China routes continue to grow. From January to July this year, the China routes carried about 427,800 passengers, surpassing about 423,100 during the same period in 2019, when the China routes had the most passengers.
Jeju Air plans to continue expanding operations on China routes. Starting on the 23rd of next month, it will launch a new service assigned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the Busan–Guilin route four times a week (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday), and it is also preparing to add and operate flights within the year on the Busan/Daegu–Shanghai and Jeju–Chengdu/Chongqing routes.
A Jeju Air official said, "Since launching China routes, we have improved access to travel in China through reasonable fares and network expansion," and added, "We will continue to organically link China routes with the Incheon–Jeju route and other domestic and international networks to respond to diverse demand and broaden consumer choice."