Budget airlines cut flights on high fuel costs amid Middle East tensions
A Korean Air passenger jet takes off at Incheon International Airport, March 16. Yonhap
Korea's low-cost carriers (LCCs) are cutting international flights to mitigate the impact of surging fuel costs amid prolonged tensions in the Middle East, industry sources said Thursday.
Air Premia plans to suspend 10 flights on its Incheon-San Francisco and Incheon-New York routes in May, following an earlier decision to cancel 26 flights on the Incheon-Los Angeles route and six on the Incheon-Honolulu route between April 20 and May 31, the sources said.
Eastar Jet plans to suspend 50 flights on the Incheon-Phu Quoc route from May 5 to May 31, citing limited local refueling conditions in Vietnam.
Air Busan and Aero K Airlines have already reduced flights on some international routes starting in April.
The country's three largest LCCs — Jeju Air, T'way Air and Jin Air — are also considering cutting services on select Southeast Asian routes, according to industry watchers.
Jet fuel prices in Asia and Oceania rose 16.6 percent to $204.95 per barrel in the week of March 13-20, compared with the previous week, and were sharply higher than the prior month's average, according to the International Air Transport Association.