Cheongju Airport Aims for 35% Foreign Visitor Share... Korea Tourism Organization and Aero K Join Forces

Expanding Demand on the Taipei Route and Attracting Japanese Charter Flights
New Products Linked to the Manila Route Launching in September

The Korea Tourism Organization is partnering with Aero K Airlines to expand the attraction of foreign visitors by utilizing Cheongju International Airport.

Signing of a Business Agreement between Korea Tourism Organization and Aero K Airlines (from left: Park Seonghyuk, President of Korea Tourism Organization, and Kang Byungho, CEO of Aero K Airlines). Korea Tourism Organization

On April 27, the Korea Tourism Organization announced that it had signed a business agreement with Aero K Airlines at the Seoul Center, aiming to expand the attraction of foreign visitors through Cheongju Airport and to vitalize regional tourism.

This agreement was established to decentralize the current structure, which is concentrated on the Seoul metropolitan area for foreign tourist arrivals, by redirecting it to local airports, and to expand demand for regional tourism. Cheongju Airport is considered a local airport with high growth potential as a key hub for the central region.

In the first quarter of this year, the number of international passengers at Cheongju Airport increased by 67.6% compared to the previous year. However, the proportion of foreign visitors among all users remains at about 11%. Aero K Airlines operates approximately 70% of the international flights at Cheongju Airport.

With this agreement, the two organizations have set a goal to raise the proportion of foreign visitors on Aero K Airlines' Cheongju Airport flights from the current level of about 11% to up to 35% by 2028. To achieve this, they will jointly carry out initiatives such as developing regional specialty tourism products linked to air routes, attracting charter flights, planning and supporting the recruitment of Cheongju Airport-linked products, organizing familiarization tours for overseas travel industry professionals, and promoting airline ticket discount promotions.

By route, they will strengthen airline and accommodation-linked promotions, focusing on the Taipei route, which has a high proportion of foreign visitors. In the Japanese market, in addition to the Tokyo and Osaka routes, they will discover new demand for travel to Korea by attracting charter flights to local cities and organizing familiarization tours. They also plan to develop products linked to the new Manila route, which is scheduled to begin operations in September.

They are also working to expand routes to Greater China. Aero K Airlines has secured a total of 13 weekly flight rights on four routes between Cheongju and Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hangzhou.

Park Seonghyuk, President of the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "With this agreement, we will expand the inflow of foreign visitors through local airports and spread the tourism flow, currently centered on the Seoul metropolitan area, nationwide. Amid external changes such as high oil prices, we will continue to support the expansion of demand for travel to Korea by strengthening cooperation with airlines."

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