Busan City Invites Bids from Airlines for New International Routes at Gimhae Airport

May 29 to June 12, Financial Support Open Call to Attract New Mid- and Long-Haul Routes from Busan

First Time for a Regional Airport Through This Year's Program... Expectations for Launch of Regular Long-Haul Flights from Busan

Busan City will hold a public contest for 'New International Air Route Operators at Gimhae Airport' from the 29th until the 12th of next month.

Gimhae Airport International Terminal
Photo by Asia Economy DB

This contest has been prepared to encourage airlines to launch new medium- and long-haul routes departing from Busan through financial support.

Medium-haul routes are defined as less than 2,500 to 5,000 km, while long-haul routes are 5,000 km or more.

The contest is open to regular passenger routes that have not operated at Gimhae Airport for the past year as of January 1, 2024, and that will operate continuously for more than six months from the date of commencement, as well as long-haul charter passenger routes that will operate at least four times a year.

The scale of financial support is as follows: for long-haul routes, regardless of the standard load factor, 10 million KRW per regular flight and 20 million KRW per charter flight will be provided; for medium-haul regular flights, 5 million KRW per flight will be provided only if the average load factor is below the standard of 80%.

The total budget for financial support is 1 billion KRW, and support will be provided within the limits of the budget. The average load factor is calculated as the total number of passengers during the operation period divided by the number of seats supplied.

This year's contest has significantly eased the support conditions and increased the amount of support compared to last year, in order to support the stable operation of long-haul routes of 5,000 km or more and to prepare for the opening of the new Gadeokdo Airport.

For long-haul regular flights, support will be provided regardless of the standard load factor (previously, support was given only if the standard load factor of 80% was not met), and for long-haul charter flights, the support amount has been increased by 5 million KRW compared to last year.

The city stated that, as new traffic rights for the Busan?Jakarta and Busan?Bali routes were allocated to airlines last week, it expects this year's contest to achieve the milestone of launching the first long-haul regular flight from a regional airport in Busan.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, through the Air Traffic Deliberation Committee on May 24, allocated new traffic rights for the Busan?Jakarta route to Jin Air and Air Busan at four and three times per week, respectively, and for the Busan?Bali route to Air Busan at four times per week.

Although there has been strong business passenger demand in sectors such as footwear manufacturing and shipping, direct flights from Busan to Indonesia had not been established due to the lack of available traffic rights. With the new allocation, regular flights on the Busan?Indonesia route are expected to be launched in the latter half of this year.

Mayor Park Hyungjoon said, "With the new long-haul traffic rights secured through more than 30 proposals to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and our city's dedicated efforts, and through this financial support contest, we expect the first long-haul route from Busan, a long-standing wish of the local business community, to be launched within this year. Starting with the Indonesia route, we will continue to expand a diverse global air network connecting to the Americas and Europe, so that Busan's status as a 'global hub city' can be further strengthened."