Jeju Air Co., South Korea's top budget carrier, made a strong market debut on Friday on hopes that the low-cost carrier will benefit from steady demand for overseas and domestic air traffic.
  

Stocks of Jeju Air were trading at 50,000 won ($44) on the Seoul bourse as of 9:27 a.m., up 1.01 percent from its opening price and far higher than its initial public offering price of 30,000 won per share.
  

The airline, owned by retail firm Aekyung Industrial Co., was established in 2005.
  

Since 2012, Jeju Air has seen its passengers surge more than 40 percent annually in tandem with rising demand for overseas trips and domestic air traffic.
  

The country's no-frills carriers accounted for 53.6 percent of the air passenger market in the first half of the year, a sharp rise from a meager 9.8 percent in 2008.
  

"Jeju Air is leading the budget airline market, on the back of strong financial status," said Kim Choong-hyun, an analyst at KDB-Daewoo Securities. "Its market share will continue to rise down the road."
  

Last year, Jeju Air logged a net profit of 32 billion won on sales of 511 billion won.
  

Its net profit surged nearly seven-fold in the first half from a year earlier, fueled by a spike in both domestic and international air traffic.
  

Net profit came to 32.3 billion won during the January-June period, up from the 4.7 billion won tallied a year earlier.
  

Operating profit also jumped ten-fold to 30.7 billion won, while sales rose 22.4 percent to 286.8 billion won over the same period.
  

Jeju Air is the third airline listed on the local bourse after Korean Air Co. and Asiana Airlines Co. (Yonhap)