Jeju Air Surpasses 90 Million Cumulative Passengers... "10 Million Increase in 17 Months"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Jeju Air announced on the 18th that it has reached a cumulative passenger count of 90 million.

Jeju Air's cumulative passengers surpassed 90 million the day before. It took 16 years and 1 month since its launch in June 2006, and 1 year and 5 months since surpassing 80 million passengers in February last year.

Jeju Air steadily expanded its fleet and routes until it exceeded 70 million passengers in September 2019, shortening the period to achieve each 10 million passenger milestone to as little as 9 months. However, due to the ‘No Japan’ movement starting in the second half of 2019 and the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, international passengers decreased, resulting in 1 year and 3 months to reach 80 million. After that, it took 1 year and 5 months to reach 90 million.

Among the 90 million cumulative passengers, domestic passengers accounted for 53.68 million (59.6%), and international passengers accounted for 36.32 million (40.4%). On international routes, the Japan route accounted for 14.29 million passengers, representing 15.9% of total passengers. Southeast Asian routes such as Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam accounted for 11.5% (10.35 million), Greater China routes including China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan accounted for 8.0% (7.19 million), Oceania routes such as Guam and Saipan accounted for 4.6% (4.18 million), and other regions including Russia accounted for 0.4% (310,000).

During the period when 10 million passengers increased after reaching 80 million in February last year, 9.84 million used domestic routes, while only 160,000 boarded international flights.

Jeju Air significantly increased domestic routes amid almost no international flights due to COVID-19, ranking first among Korean carriers in domestic passenger numbers in 2020 and last year.

A Jeju Air official said, “Considering the recent pace of international route recovery, we expect to reach 100 million cumulative passengers by the second half of next year,” adding, “We will solidify our position as the number one low-cost carrier (LCC) by offering diverse routes and schedules.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.