Air Busan Fully Replaces In-Flight Duty-Free Bags with 'Paper Shopping Bags'

Air Busan will completely replace the plastic bags provided for in-flight duty-free purchases with paper bags starting in June, becoming the first domestic airline to do so.

On the 19th, Air Busan announced that as part of its eco-friendly management efforts, it will minimize the use of disposable items by replacing the plastic shopping bags provided for in-flight duty-free purchases with paper bags.

In the first quarter of this year, Air Busan's total in-flight duty-free sales increased by more than 60% compared to the fourth quarter of last year, indicating a sharp rise in the number of passengers using the in-flight duty-free shop.

Accordingly, with the rapid increase in disposable item usage due to the growing use of duty-free bags, Air Busan plans to actively reduce in-flight disposable items by producing duty-free bags made of recyclable paper materials.

Air Busan in-flight duty-free paper shopping bag.

Considering the production quantity of paper shopping bags, both the existing duty-free bags and the new paper bags will be provided concurrently until November this year. The airline plans to gradually improve shopping bags, starting with those used for cosmetics or lightweight products, by using eco-friendly materials such as recycled paper and non-wood pulp paper.

In April, Air Busan also held an event on flights to Bangkok where specially made upcycled bags were provided instead of disposable duty-free plastic bags. The airline has been conducting “Eco Flights” themed around environmental friendliness and carrying out continuous and diverse activities to preserve the environment and promote eco-friendly culture.

An Air Busan official stated, “We will fulfill our corporate social responsibility for environmental protection through various eco-friendly activities such as campaigns to minimize in-flight disposable item use and environmental cleanup volunteer work.”

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