Jeju, Gimpo, and Gimhae Airports: 1 in 5 Flights Delayed

By Airline, Air Seoul Leads with 39% Share

Amid a surge in airport passengers since COVID-19, it has been revealed that one out of every five flights is delayed. The rate of flight delays has increased more than threefold compared to last year.

According to the 'Flight Delay Rates by Major Airports and Airlines including Gimpo, Gimhae, and Jeju' submitted by Jo O-seop, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, from Korea Airports Corporation, the number of flights as of September this year was 325,435, an increase of 12,424 flights compared to the same period last year. The delay rate was 22.2%, up 15.9 percentage points from 6.6% last year.

Among airports, Jeju Airport had the highest delay rate at 24.4%, followed by Gimpo (22.8%) and Gimhae (18%) airports. By airline, Air Seoul had a delay rate of 39%, T'way Air 30.2%, and Jeju Air 27.5%.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Korea Airports Corporation explained, “The criteria for delay determination changed from exceeding 30 minutes after landing to exceeding 15 minutes after stopping.” Airlines cited causes such as overlapping passenger movement paths, delays in aircraft door opening, baggage congestion and stoppage, lack of boarding gates, airport facility congestion, and security screening delays.

The number of user complaints due to flight delays is also high. From 2020 to last year, there were 1,674 delay-related complaints across nine domestic airlines. Jin Air had the most with 1,444 cases, followed by Korean Air with 73 and Asiana Airlines with 66.

Assemblyman Jo said, “Currently, countries like the United States and Japan disclose delay rates on airline websites,” adding, “South Korea should also prepare measures to prevent damages to flight passengers by disclosing delay rates for airports and airlines to manage on-time performance.”

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