Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Allocates Transport Rights for 10 Routes to 8 National Airlines
[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] A domestic low-cost carrier (LCC) will operate for the first time on the Incheon~Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) route.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) announced on the 14th that it held the Aviation Traffic Deliberation Committee and allocated the Mongolian traffic rights (10 routes) additionally secured through last year's aviation talks to eight domestic airlines.
MOLIT explained that, in line with the phased restoration plan for international flights starting next month aimed at restoring the public's routine overseas travel, traffic rights were allocated for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Aviation Traffic Deliberation Committee was frozen for about two years. It was not held last year due to the closure of air routes caused by the spread of COVID-19, but this year it was convened to expand various routes with the goal of recovering air travel demand.
Through last year's aviation talks with the Mongolian government, MOLIT allocated 9 weekly flights of Incheon~Ulaanbaatar traffic rights for the peak season (June to September) to newly entered Jeju Air and T'way Air, with 4 flights per week and 3 flights per week respectively. The Mongolian route is considered a prime route with a peak season load factor of 80-90%.
MOLIT explained that with LCCs entering the Mongolian route for the first time, which had previously been operated only by Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, it will now be possible to visit Mongolia at more affordable fares.
Jin Air, a subsidiary of Hanjin KAL, and Air Busan and Air Seoul, subsidiaries of Asiana Airlines, applied for Mongolian route traffic rights from MOLIT but all failed to secure them. Since the merger of parent companies Korean Air and Asiana Airlines has been decided, it is interpreted that this exclusion decision was made to avoid monopoly issues if subsidiaries were also allocated traffic rights.
MOLIT allocated twice-weekly traffic rights on the Yangyang~Chengdu (China) route to Fly Gangwon to improve mobility convenience for local residents.
Additionally, traffic rights for eight non-competitive routes including Incheon~Germany and Korea~New Zealand were newly or additionally allocated.
With the corporate merger review by overseas competition authorities such as the European Union (EU) ongoing for the Korean Air and Asiana Airlines merger, Air Premia, a domestic airline, will newly operate five weekly flights on the Korea~Germany route, which is a monopoly route in Europe, positively influencing the review by competition authorities.
Korean Air received two weekly flights for Korea~New Zealand, Fly Gangwon received two weekly flights for Yangyang~Shanghai, Eastar Jet received 760 seats weekly for Cheongju~Manila, Air Incheon received one weekly flight for Incheon~Ulaanbaatar (cargo), Air Incheon received one weekly unit for Incheon~Singapore, and Korean Air received two weekly flights for Korea~Rome and Milan (cargo).
Kim Yong-seok, Director of Aviation Policy at MOLIT, said, "This allocation of traffic rights was carried out with the policy intention to restore routine travel for our citizens in line with the easing of quarantine measures domestically and internationally. We will continue to secure additional traffic rights through aviation talks so that citizens can visit a wider variety of countries."
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