Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Jeju Air, Jin Air reach milestones
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A B737-800 aircraft of Jeju Air. The carrier had 510.6 billion won in annual sales last year, becoming the first Korean budget airline to reach the 500-billion-won mark. / Courtesy of Jeju Air
By Kim Rahn
By Kim Rahn
Low-cost carriers in Korea are growing fast in terms of revenues, passengers and destinations.
Jeju Air, which marked its 10th anniversary this year, said it had 510.6 billion won ($464.8 million) in annual sales in 2014 ― an 18.1-percent increase from the previous year ― making it the first budget carrier to reach the 500-billion-won mark.
Of Jeju Air’s total sales, about 60 percent came from international operations.
“The record sales is the result of the balanced growth between our international and domestic operations, which came from the new routes that were added last year,” a Jeju Air official said.
For the past few years, the carrier’s sales have been increasing by an average of 34 percent annually. Its sales were 157.5 billion won in 2010, 257.7 billion won in 2011, 341.2 billion won in 2012, 432.3 billion won in 2013 and 510.6 billion won in 2014.
The carrier’s operating profit also grew significantly to 29.5 billion won, up 94.1 percent from a year ago.
Jin Air CEO Ma Won, third from right, poses with the family of Kang Seon-mi who became the 10 millionth domestic passenger of the carrier, at Gimpo International Airport, western Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of Jin Air
“Our operating profit almost doubled because we completed our huge investment goals in equipmentby 2013. The increased numbers of aircrafts and routes also helped us save on fixed costs,” he said.
Last year, the airline acquired four more aircrafts, increasing its fleet to 17. It also started eight new regular routes ― Jeju-Daegu; Incheon-Jiamusi, China; Incheon-Shijiazhuang, China; Busan-Shijiazhuang; Incheon-Saipan; Incheon-Okinawa; Incheon-Hanoi; and Daegu-Bangkok. It now has four domestic and 20 international regular routes.
“This year, we aim to achieve 640 billion won in sales and 36 billion won in operating profit,” the official said.
The airline will acquire four additional planes this year and start operations for 10 more new routes, including Daegu-Beijing, to become the first Korean budget airline to fly to Beijing.
“Over the long term, we plan to operate 50 routes and achieve 1 trillion won in sales by 2018 and 60 routes with 40 aircrafts and 1.5 trillion won in sales by 2020,” he said.
“We’ll add more routes to become one of the top three carriers in Korea and further, to become Northeast Asia’s best low-cost carrier.”
Jin Air, the budget affiliate of Korean Air, reached 10 million domestic passengers on Feb. 2.
In the celebration ceremony, the carrier offered free roundtrip tickets between Gimpo and Jeju to the 10 millionth passenger, Kang Seon-mi, who flew on the airline with her family.
It took six years and seven months for the carrier to reach 10 million passengers since starting its operations on July 17, 2008. While it took four years for the carrier to reach its first 5 million passengers, it took only two years and seven months for it to reach the next 5 million.
“For the last two years, Jin Air had the biggest market share for the Gimpo-Jeju route among the five budget airlines, strengthening its position as one of the best low-cost carriers here,” a company official said.
“We’ll make efforts to increase our domestic passengers, offering the new Busan-Jeju route starting on Feb. 27.”
The airline also recently moved its check-in counters from the western part of Gimpo International Airport’s domestic terminal to the central part, as well as increased the number of counters from seven to eight, offering more convenient and fast check-in service to passengers.