PHILIPPINES: Jeju Air Opens New Routes

Jeju Air launched six new routes in the space of four days in late December, including two new links each from its home market of South Korea to the Philippines and Taiwan, and one each to Malaysia and Thailand.

Frequencies on the sectors range from two weekly flights to daily services. All flights are operated by the South Korean LCC’s 737-800s. Only the two routes from Muan (MWX) will see no direct competition.

The longest of the new sectors is the 3,397-kilometre connection between Muan and Kota Kinabalu (BKI), while the shortest is the 1,395-kilometre link from Daegu (TAE) to Taipei Taoyuan (TPE). The average sector length across the six routes is 2,482 kilometres.

Cebu Airport celebrated the inaugural Jeju Air departure on the South Korean carrier’s new route to Muan on 22 December.

Flights will operate five times weekly on this 2,754-kilometre sector facing no direct competition. This was one of six new routes launched by the LCC between 19 December and 23 December 2018.

Jeju Air introduced a new route from Daegu (TAE) to Macau (MFM) on 2 December. The South Korean LCC will operate the 2,110-kilometre connection five times weekly, using its 737-800s. There is no direct competition on the route.

Commenting on the airport’s latest link, Eric Fong, Director of Marketing Department, Macau International Airport Company Limited said: There are four low-cost airlines from Korea operating services between Seoul, Busan and Macau.

This new service between Macau and Taegu would be in time to satisfy the Christmas peak season for travel in the coming December. Daegu becomes Jeju Air’s second route to Macau, with the carrier already operating a service from Seoul Incheon.

Jeju Air, is a South Korean low-cost airline, the first to be founded in the country. It offers scheduled domestic services between several cities in South Korea, as well as between Seoul and international destinations including Japan, China, Russia, the Mariana Islands, and various Southeast Asian countries.

It is also a founding member of the Value Alliance. Jeju Air is named after the Jeju Island. The airline, a member of AK group, is scheduled to open a Seoul head office tower hotel at Hongik station of the Seoul Metro, to diversify income.

Jeju Air operates an all-Boeing fleet consisting of the following aircraft:

- Boeing 737-800: 40

Total: 40