Air Busan, 7 Consecutive Years as No.1 in Passenger Share at Gimhae Airport

Air Busan Airbus A321LR aircraft

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Air Busan announced on the 8th that it transported approximately 2.56 million passengers last year at Gimhae International Airport, recording the highest number of passengers at Gimhae Airport.

This accounts for about 35.5% of the total Gimhae Airport users (7,235,652), representing the highest passenger share among airlines operating at Gimhae Airport. Air Busan has maintained the number one passenger share at Gimhae Airport for seven consecutive years since 2014, continuously strengthening its position as the representative airline of the southern region.

Although the total number of passengers decreased significantly last year due to the impact of COVID-19, with a 56% drop in total passengers and an 87% decrease in international passengers, Air Busan made efforts to provide air travel convenience to local residents.

In April last year, international flights at Gimhae Airport were suspended, but Air Busan reopened the Busan-Qingdao route after six months, reopening the sky route for Busan. This remains the only international route arriving and departing from a regional airport other than Incheon Airport. For domestic flights, Air Busan is the only airline operating more than 10 round trips daily on the Busan-Gimpo and Busan-Jeju routes.

Air Busan plans to overcome the crisis by increasing revenue through expanding domestic flights and non-landing flights, judging that a full-scale resumption of international flights will be difficult for the time being due to COVID-19. Since the 28th of last month, the airline has significantly increased flights on the Ulsan-Gimpo and Ulsan-Jeju routes, operating 3 to 4 round trips daily, and plans to increase domestic flights this month by adding temporary flights on the Busan-Gimpo and Gimpo-Jeju routes.

This month, Air Busan plans to launch a new ‘non-landing educational flight’ program for elementary, middle, and high school students, the first of its kind among domestic airlines.