‘Bustling’ Sky Routes Clear of COVID Clouds... Air Busan to Add 44,672 Seats

Temporary Increase of 22 Domestic Flights in May Followed by 232 Flights in June

Air Busan A321 passenger aircraft.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] As the COVID-19 clouds clear, the skies are becoming crowded.

With the surge in air passenger demand, Air Busan is planning to increase all domestic routes starting next month, adding more than 40,000 seats as a countermeasure.

Air Busan plans to absorb passengers through large-scale temporary additional flights on all domestic routes throughout June.

As social distancing measures have been lifted, seat shortages frequently occur on domestic flights due to passengers being unable to secure seats. In response, Air Busan announced on the 13th that it will add a total of 232 flights across five domestic routes during June.

The temporary additional routes include △Gimpo-Busan 64 flights △Gimpo-Ulsan 58 flights △Gimpo-Jeju 52 flights △Ulsan-Jeju 42 flights △Busan-Jeju 16 flights, adding a total of 44,672 seats through this temporary increase.

Air Busan stated that since last month, the number of travelers to Jeju has significantly increased, and the business route Busan-Gimpo has also seen a rapid rise in passengers.

In March, Air Busan had 94,734 passengers on the Busan-Jeju route, which increased by more than 43% to 135,935 in April.

The Busan-Gimpo route also saw passenger numbers rise by about 21%, from 124,306 in March to 150,554 in April.

Accordingly, the average load factor on Jeju routes exceeded 90% in April and continues to record over 90%, worsening the seat shortage situation.

Air Busan will add a total of 22,712 seats to Jeju routes and supply an additional 21,960 seats on inland routes throughout June.

For Jeju routes, temporary flights will be evenly deployed on weekdays and weekends to alleviate the chronic seat shortage. For inland routes, additional flights will be concentrated on Friday and Sunday afternoons when passenger demand peaks, enhancing convenience for users.

An Air Busan official said, “With the lifting of social distancing, travel demand and domestic business trip demand are increasing simultaneously, so we are significantly increasing temporary flights in June to facilitate passenger movement.”

In May, Air Busan also added a total of 22 temporary flights on the △Gimpo-Jeju and △Busan-Jeju routes, supplying an additional 4,864 seats.