Korea Airports Corporation Expands Summer Scheduled Flights at Regional Airports, Focusing on Japan and Taiwan Routes

2,874 Weekly International Flights and 7,224 Weekly Domestic Flights Scheduled
Up 8.6% and 3.6% Year-on-Year, Respectively
Aiming to Improve Regional Balance and Travel Convenience

Korea Airports Corporation will expand the operation of regular flights at regional airports such as Gimhae and Cheongju during the 2026 summer flight season, which runs from March 29 to October 24.

Gimpo Airport panorama. Korea Airports Corporation

According to the corporation on March 25, during this summer season, international flights will be operated on 98 routes in 13 countries with 2,874 flights per week, while domestic flights will be operated on 20 routes with 7,224 flights per week. These figures represent increases of 8.6% and 3.6%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. In the previous summer season, there were 2,646 international flights per week on 110 routes in 12 countries, and 6,970 domestic flights per week on 19 routes.

Due to rising demand for travel to nearby destinations such as Japan and Taiwan, the number of flights to Japan increased by 26.8% year-on-year (from 964 to 1,222 flights per week), while flights to Taiwan increased by 28.0% year-on-year (from 322 to 412 flights per week).

As part of regional specialty routes, Gimhae Airport will newly operate the Almaty route (Eastar Jet) twice a week and the Miyakojima route (Jin Air) twice a week. The Kuala Lumpur route (AirAsia X) will resume operations at a frequency of twice a week. At Cheongju Airport, the Shanghai route (Spring Airlines) will newly begin operating four times a week to attract more inbound travelers.

For domestic routes, the newly launched small air transport operator, Seom Air, will begin operating the Gimpo–Sacheon route 28 times a week from the end of March and plans to expand to the Ulsan route from May. In addition, a direct route between Jeju and Incheon will be established, with operations set to begin in May.

Heo Juhee, Head of Glocal Business Division at Korea Airports Corporation, stated, "Although the aviation industry is currently facing a challenging management environment due to external factors such as high oil prices, we will work together with airlines to minimize inconveniences for the public in using air transportation. We will do our utmost to ensure that this summer's expansion of flight operations serves as an opportunity to support national priorities such as attracting more foreign visitors and promoting balanced regional development."

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