By Lee Hyo-sik
E-Mart, the country’s largest discount chain, is known for offering a wide range of products, including life insurance. From today, airplane tickets will also be on its list of available items.
E-Mart said Wednesday that plane tickets are on sale for those wanting to travel to Japan and Taiwan in June. The chain is selling them on behalf of Eastar Jet, one of Korea’s five low-cost carriers.
A total of 4,000 seats on Eastar Jet’s three international routes can be purchased at prices 40 percent lower than those offered by other budget carriers, it said.
Currently, Eastar operates flights from Incheon to Narita and Osaka, and Gimpo to Taipei. The sales will continue until May 23, but tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.
A round-trip ticket between Incheon and Osaka costs 211,500 won, including fuel surcharge and airport tax. People seeking to secure seats on Eastar Jet planes bound for Japan and Taiwan from June 1 to 30 should take their passports to customer information desks at E-Mart outlets.
``In cooperation with Eastar Jet, we will sell airplane tickets for Japan and Taiwan at up to 40-percent discounted prices,’’ an E-Mart spokesman said. ``If the planned sale is popular with our customers, we will consider offering more air tickets in the future.’’
The spokesman also said the discount chain will launch a joint marketing campaign with the low-cost carrier. ``We have been trying hard to turn our stores into a place where our customers can satisfy all their shopping needs. We have begun selling life insurance products and allowing customers to rent our electronics goods.’’
He said offering plane tickets is also part of E-Mart’s ``life solution’’ campaign designed to provide shoppers with a more convenient shopping experience.
Eastar Jet also said the firm greatly values doing business with Korea’s largest discount chain, saying it will make efforts to improve its brand image and attract more air passengers.
``This type of promotional sale is unprecedented in Korea or elsewhere. We are 100 percent positive that this sales event will be a huge success. We will seek to make our plane tickets available at E-Mart all year around at lower prices,’’ the spokesman said.