Korea-Japan to Expand Air Routes and Promote Cooperation in Six Aviation Sectors

Air routes between Korea and Japan are expected to expand to pre-COVID-19 levels after the third quarter.

Korean Air Boeing 787-9 / Photo by Korean Air

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 12th that it held the "Korea-Japan Aviation Cooperation Meeting" with Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for two days starting from the 11th in Jeju, and signed a memorandum of cooperation in the aviation sector.

This meeting followed the agreement made during the summit between President Yoon Seok-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the 7th, where they agreed to "make efforts to restore air routes not only between the metropolitan areas but also between regional areas to pre-COVID-19 levels."

From Korea, Ha Dong-su, Director General of Aviation Policy, and from Japan, Onuma Toshiyuki, Deputy Minister for International Aviation, participated as the chief representatives of each country. This director-general level meeting was held for the first time in 10 years since 2013, where they discussed ways to secure aviation supply capacity and agreed to establish a future-oriented cooperation framework.

Accordingly, the number of weekly Korea-Japan international flights, which stood at about 890 as of the end of April, is expected to increase to around 1,000 per week after the summer peak season (July to September) this year. This corresponds to approximately 92% of the flight frequency in 2019. Existing routes such as Incheon-Sapporo, Nagoya, and Kansai will see increased flights after July, and routes such as Cheongju-Kansai, Asahikawa, and Daegu-Sapporo are also scheduled to resume operations.

In addition, the delegations from both countries discussed various policy issues across the aviation sector, including the expansion of air transport networks, safety, and airport policies. A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official stated, "According to the memorandum of cooperation in the aviation sector, both countries are expected to activate exchanges by sharing knowledge and experience in six areas?air transport, safety, air navigation, environment, airports, and new technologies?and by promoting cooperation projects in each field."

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