Jeju Air announced on the 16th that it will resume operations on the Jeju~Xian route and increase flights on the Incheon~Weihai route, thereby expanding its operations to China. This move is seen as a response to South Korea's visa exemption measures for Chinese nationals.
The Jeju~Xian route will resume operations twice a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays) starting from the 20th. The flight departs from Jeju International Airport at 10 p.m. and arrives at Xian International Airport at 1 a.m. the following day. The return flight departs from Xian at 2 a.m. and arrives at Jeju Airport at 6:25 a.m.
The Incheon~Weihai route, which had been increased from seven to nine flights a week in April, will increase to ten flights a week starting July 1. Jeju Air is also considering operations on the Shanghai route departing from Busan.
The number of passengers using Jeju Air's China routes was about 46,000 in April, an increase of over 10,000 compared to March. The boarding rate rose from the low 70% range in January to the mid-70% range in February and March, and then reached the mid-80% range in April.
Jeju Air currently operates ten routes to China, including six departing from Incheon (Qingdao, Harbin, Weihai, Yanji, Shijiazhuang, and Zhaimu) and two from Busan (Zhangjiajie and Shijiazhuang) as well as two from Jeju (Beijing Capital and Beijing Daxing). This is the largest number among domestic low-cost carriers (LCC).