Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
Korean carriers slash flights to Japan
Jeju Air's baggage drop-off counter for Japan stands empty at Incheon International Airport on Aug. 4. Yonhap
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
Anti-Japan sentiment following Japan's economic retaliation against Korean court rulings on wartime forced labor has resulted in local carriers drastically reducing or canceling flights to Japan because of a drastic reduction in the number of Korean passengers.
With the “Boycott Japan” campaign expected to continue, further cuts in flights appear inevitable.
In the absence of Japanese routes, local carriers have been increasing flights to other countries including China and Southeast Asia.
According to the aviation industry, local carriers excluding Air Seoul, which operates 60 percent of its flights to Japan, have canceled or reduced flights to Japan. The airlines are full-service carriers Korean Air and Asiana Airlines and budget airlines Jeju Air, Jin Air, T'way Air, Eastar Jet and Air Busan.
Korean carriers have dropped 180,000 seats monthly to Japan, which corresponds to 2 million seats a year, a considerable number as 7.5 million Koreans traveled to Japan last year.
Korea's low-cost carriers (LCCs) are being hit hard because they rely heavily on Japan routes to sustain profitability.
T'way Air, which operates 23 routes to Japan, the most among local budget carriers, has cut 53,000 seats a month, followed by Jin Air with 40,000 seats, Jeju Air and Eastar Jet with 33,000 seats each and Eastar Jet with around 19,000 seats.
Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have canceled one route each to Japan departing from Busan which will reduce 1,500 seats and 2,000 seats respectively.
Air Seoul has not officially announced its reduction, but is looking into options to replace several Japanese routes.
Most of the airlines chose to suspend the routes temporarily through late October before the winter season. They plan to resume flights after tensions ease.
“Just because there is a shortage in demand, we can't cancel the routes as we have built up relations with their local governments and need to resume the flights after the tensions ease,” an airline official said.
However, there is a high possibility the boycott against Japan could be prolonged, which will inevitably force airlines to make further cuts.
On Thursday, Jin Air, the country's second largest LCC, announced plans to cut more than 40 percent of its flights to Japan.
Jin Air offers 131 flights a week to Japanese cities, but will reduce this to 78 flights a week, a 40.5 percent cut.
Earlier this month, Eastar Jet announced it would suspend operations on six routes to Japan from Sept. 18 to Oct. 2 ― routes from Incheon to Sapporo, Okinawa, Kagoshima and Ibaraki, as well from Cheongju to Sapporo and Osaka.
T'way Air is monitoring the situation and plans to conduct another evaluation for the winter season and make additional changes accordingly.
Last month, T'way suspended operations between Muan and Oita and plans to halt operations on Daegu-Kumamoto and Busan-Saga routes in September.
Korean Air, the country's flagship carrier, will also operate smaller planes on its Incheon-Sapporo, -Osaka, -Fukuoka and -Nagoya routes as early as this month.