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Jeju Air to introduce business class for Southeast Asia
February 22nd 2019
Korea’s largest LCC will install business class seats on an initial three aircraft, according to Orient Aviation sources. Is there enough appetite to offset costs? Read More »
Jeju Air will retrofit business class seats onto an initial three aircraft to be deployed on Southeast Asian routes, according to Orient Aviation sources.
The product is expected to be called “New Class” and debut from 4Q2019. Jeju operates 39 737-800s, which seat 189 in an all-economy configuration. The retrofit will see three rows of 2-2 seating for a total of 12 business seats and 162 economy seats.
Total seat count will decrease to 174, but these aircraft will be deployed to Southeast Asian markets like Bangkok, Phuket and Hanoi. At five to six hours long, Jeju has payload restrictions on these flights and cannot sell all capacity. Jeju reckons it can grow revenue without notable displacement of existing revenue.
The product could be popular on Seoul-Singapore if Jeju receives traffic rights expected from an enlarged bilateral.
Jeju has been emboldened by high take-up rates of extra legroom seats, but these come at little cost compared to a retrofit. Complexity grows by introducing a sub-fleet.
There is caution that the extra legroom seats are sold cheaply, and passengers otherwise have shown little take-up for ancillary items. Most Korean passengers book with a LCC because it is inexpensive. There may be small additional purchases, but a trade-up to a business seat may prove unpopular.
There was already concern Korea’s LCCs were forgetting their business fundamentals by taking brand new aircraft rather than rely on inexpensive second-hand frames.
