Air Seoul to cut Japan routes amid trade dispute

Air Seoul makes about half of its revenue from Japanese routes. Korea Times file

By Jung Min-ho

Air Seoul, a Korean budget carrier that relies heavily on sales from its Japan services, will cut back some regular flights connecting the countries.

An Air Seoul representative told The Korea Times Monday that the airline is reviewing which of its 11 Korea-Japan routes should be suspended after a drop in demand amid deteriorating relations.

Air Seoul said bookings for its Japan routes for this summer vacation season dropped sharply compared with the same period last year (by 5 percent for July, 30 percent for August and 20 percent for September).

The company makes about half of its revenue from the routes. Of its 17 international routes, 11 (64.7 percent) are to and from Japanese cities.

The move comes several days after Korean budget carrier T'way Air suspended its Daegu-Kumamoto and Busan-Saga routes. Other airlines, including Eastar Jet and Jin Air, are also considering cutting their Japan services.

Korean travelers' demand for destinations in Japan, which surged in recent years, started to fall early this month after the Japanese government's decision to restrict the export of some key tech materials to Korea ― in an apparent retaliation to last year's Korean Supreme Court rulings that ordered Japanese companies to pay damages to Korean victims of forced labor during World War II.

The export control triggered anti-Japan sentiment and boycotts of Japanese products.