Despite the tasty Korean food options and legendarily good-looking flight attendants on Korea's full-service airlines, an increasing number of travelers flying to and from the republic are opting for lower-priced options.
According to a round-up of Korea's five budget airlines in the Korea Herald today, a total of 1.45 million passengers flew on budget airlines in January and February of this year, reflecting a 30 percent increase from the same time last year.
The combined revenue of Jeju Air, Air Busan, Jin Air, Eastar Jet, and T'way Air in 2010 was ₩512.6 billion, with 34.68 percent market share for domestic flights, and 3.48 percent market share for international routes.
Going global
Most of the budget passengers flew on domestic flights, but the low-cost carriers are also expanding overseas. Between them, the five airlines currently operate a total of 27 international routes with 30 aircraft.
"Our Japanese routes now feature more Japanese passengers than Korean passengers," said a public relations representative for Jeju Air, Korea's largest budget airline. "The ratio is about 60:40."
However, the cheapest way to fly from Korea is still via travel agencies rather than using the websites of budget carriers. A quick search on Korean travel agency websites revealed they offered cheaper fares than the websites of the budget airlines.
When asked why, the Jeju Air rep said that it was due to the strong relationships that travel agencies have with Korean airlines, and that agencies would probably reflect the cheapest costs.
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