Jin Air to scrap Busan-Jeju route

Jin Air, a budget air carrier completely owned by Korean Air, will stop flights between Busan and Jeju early next month, the company said yesterday. It said it made the decision to secure planes for operating new international flights.

"We have decided to run the Busan-Jeju route until Dec. 8 in preparation for the international operation that begins next month," an official of Jin Air said.

The low-cost carrier plans to operate daily flights to Bangkok starting Dec. 21.



The carrier is also to begin operations to Macao, Osaka, Guam and Weihai of China possibly next year. But it needs to review the market condition from time to time, the official said.

The air carrier plans to offer the services 20-30 percent cheaper than major airlines connecting Incheon to those Asian cities, it said.

Currently, Jin Air runs flights between Busan and Jeju four times a day. It occupies 12-13 percent of the Busan-Jeju passenger air traffic market, as of October. Its parent company Korean Air holds around 38 percent of market share on the route while Air Busan, partly owned by Asiana Airlines, takes 35 percent, industry watchers said.

The carrier has already stopped operating flights between Gimpo and Busan in January, only two months after it had begun them, also citing low occupancy rate. Jin Air will be running flights only between Gimpo and Jeju starting next month. The low-cost carrier has four single-aisle B737-800 planes currently in operation.

With Jin Air completely leaving the Busan base, the two popular domestic routes -- Gimpo-Busan and Busan-Jeju -- will be operated by two rivals, Air Busan and Korean Air, industry watchers said.

(christory@heraldm.com)





By Cho Chung-un