More Foreign LCC Flights
According to industry sources, each of a total of nine non-Korean low-cost carriers (LCCs), including Peach Aviation, AirAsia Philippines and HK Express, recorded at least 200 flights between the Incheon International Airport and cities in the country it belongs to during the first seven months of this year.
The nine LCCs’ total number of flights to and from the Incheon International Airport amounted to 9,207 during the period, up 23.8% from a year ago.
The number jumped from 470 to 884 for VietJet Air as the Vietnamese company started operations between Incheon and Ho Chi Minh in November last year in addition to those between Incheon and Hanoi. The number of its customers almost doubled from 65,000 to 121,000, too.
Likewise, the number of such flights soared from 1,284 to 2,382 for Peach Aviation and the number of its customers increased by more than 86% from 204,552 to 381,605. The number of flights to and from Incheon increased 29.72% for Thai AirAsia X, 27.47% for HK Express and 14.38% for Spring Airlines as well.
In contrast, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines reduced their flights from 1,264 to 1,131 and from 1,693 to 1,575, respectively.
During the same period, South Korean LCCs’ flights to and from Incheon increased 50.64% to 28,255. Specifically, the rate of increase reached 72.13% (from 2,587 to 4,453) in the case of Eastar Jet, 71.1% for T’way Air, 54.20% (to 8,643) for Jin Air and 32.94% (to 10,163) for Jeju Air.