A Bookstore in the Sky? ... Air Busan Launches Electronic Library 'Haneul Chaekbang'

Air Busan's Electronic Library Haneul Bookstore July Recommended Books.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Air Busan’s newly launched digital library ‘Sky Bookstore’ has attracted attention with 3,552 visitors in one month and over 1,000 book loans.

Launched last month as the first domestic airline to offer such a service, ‘Sky Bookstore’ is a digital library that allows users to borrow and read e-books for free anytime and anywhere using smart devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs.

The library contains a vast collection of 255,482 electronic books across 45 titles in three categories: ▲e-books ▲audiobooks ▲academic papers.

Air Busan expanded the ‘Sky Bookstore’ service to all Air Busan members, not limiting it to passengers, as a way to give back to society for the love and support received from customers.

Air Busan is the only domestic airline providing an e-book lending service, aiming to secure loyal customers and further promote national reading rates and the spread of reading culture.

According to Air Busan, unlike traditional libraries, ‘Sky Bookstore’ allows multiple users to access popular content simultaneously and offers easy accessibility and convenience.

The most popular genre in Sky Bookstore is ‘novels,’ followed by ‘self-development’ and ‘economics & management.’ The most borrowed books were ‘Dollar Gut Dream Department Store,’ ‘Ordinary Languages,’ and ‘If You Worry About Your Tone, Be Like Yoo Jae-suk’ in that order.

An Air Busan representative said, “Dollar Gut Dream Department Store was the number one comprehensive bestseller in 2021, so it appears to be the most preferred and borrowed book among Air Busan members. The high number of loans in self-development and economics & management genres reflects modern people’s strong interest in self-improvement and financial management.”

Considering that many people enjoy cool and thrilling horror and thriller movies in summer, Air Busan set the July book theme of Sky Bookstore to ‘Horror & Thriller.’

Air Busan selected six recommended works, including ▲‘The Hakuba Mountain Lodge Murder Case’ by mystery and thriller master Keigo Higashino ▲‘Jikji,’ the world’s oldest metal type book, and a novel tracing the medieval mystery surrounding Jikji and Gutenberg’s metal type ▲‘Baekgwang,’ a dazzlingly thrilling and suffocatingly captivating love triangle mystery, to offer fun and refreshment to members weary of the summer heat.

An Air Busan official said, “We plan to continue selecting monthly themes according to seasons and trends to introduce various genres of e-books to Air Busan members and continuously promote reading culture.”

To use Sky Bookstore, log in to the Air Busan app and click ‘Sky Bookstore’ under the ‘Service Guide’ category.

Detailed usage information is available on the Air Busan website and mobile web/app. The loan period is 14 days, and up to 10 books can be borrowed per month.