News
China’s wrath subsides; South Korean carriers allowed frequency increases
June 2nd 2017
Another government, another attempt at better relations. Following the election of new South Korean president Moon Jae-In, a liberal candidate, Beijing has eased restrictions on new route applications and frequency or capacity changes on existing services. Read More »
This week, Jeju Air at last received permission from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to double its flights between Incheon and the Eastern Chinese coastal city of Weihai, from daily to twice-daily operations.
More frequency additions and route launches are expected at all South Korean operators, including Asiana Airlines, Korean Air and the country’s burgeoning low-cost carriers.
South Korea’s budget carriers had long reaped the benefits of undiminished Mainland tour operator demand, both through aggregate bookings on their scheduled flights or chartered services. These golden years had temporarily evaporated when Beijing first expressed its anger at the deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system in South Korea in October and followed through with flight restrictions in March.
At the time, Goldman Sachs was predicting that travel curbs imposed by Beijing on Mainlanders booked to visit South Korea would likely to result in more than US$5 billion in immediate revenue losses at South Korea’s airlines and travel firms. The Mainland carriers obviously took a hit themselves, too.
Since his election, new president Moon has taken a conciliatory tone towards Beijing and has pledged to seek a parliamentary review of the THAAD system.
