Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Allocates 15 Route Traffic Rights to 8 National Airlines, View of the arrival hall of Incheon International Airport Terminal 1. 2023.9.19/NEWS1 © News1 Reporter Kim Dowoo
‘(Seoul=News1) Reporter Kim Dong-kyu = The direct flight route between Korea and the Czech Republic will be increased to seven times a week, and routes to Central Asia and Europe will be expanded.’
‘The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held an Air Transport Deliberation Committee meeting and announced on the 28th that it had allocated traffic rights for 15 routes to eight domestic airlines.’
‘With this allocation, the direct flights to the Czech Republic will be increased to seven times a week for the first time in about 26 years, and the route to Guilin, China will also be resumed. Moreover, the sky paths to diverse regions such as Central Asia and Europe will be broadened, further strengthening the international route network.’
‘For three routes where multiple airlines applied, leading to competition among airlines, decisions were made according to the traffic rights allocation rules and the deliberation of the Air Transport Deliberation Committee.’
‘The Czech route received an increase in traffic rights from four times a week to seven times a week during the air talks with the Czech Republic held in July, following a nuclear energy cooperation and an official visit to the Czech Republic. Korean Air had been exclusively operating the route four times a week, but Asiana Airlines was allocated an additional three times a week. This is expected to enhance economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries and improve mutual travel convenience.’
‘The sky route to Uzbekistan will also be expanded. Following the air talks in September, the Incheon-Tashkent route was increased by two times a week (from 10 times to 12 times), and in this committee meeting, Jeju Air and T’Way Air each received an allocation of one time a week.’
‘As a result, the two airlines, which each received an allocation of three times in the first half, will now hold four times a week each and aim to begin operations next year. This is expected to strengthen Incheon International Airport’s role as a transfer hub connecting Central and East Asia.’
‘The Incheon-Guilin (Guilin) route, which was suspended at the end of 2023, will also be resumed. Two LCCs (low-cost carriers), Jeju Air and Jin Air, will newly enter to operate seven times a week.’
‘The resumption of the Guilin route, which has high demand for natural tourism, is expected to improve travel convenience for the public and also contribute to attracting transit passengers from China.’
‘Additionally, non-competitive routes, for which only one airline applied, such as Greece and three Nordic countries in Europe (Denmark, Sweden, Norway), where no airline had previously entered and the government had held onto long-term, were allocated through this committee, laying the foundation for expanding diverse new European networks.’
‘Together with the liberalization of direct flights between domestic local airports and Manila, Philippines in July and the greatly increased Incheon-Manila traffic rights, the traffic rights were distributed to both major airlines and LCCs like Korean Air, Eastar, and Air Seoul. This helped lay the groundwork for expanding flights to meet diverse travel and business demands and strengthen the Southeast Asia-America transfer network.’
‘Kim Young-kook, Director of Aviation Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “As international flight operations have fully recovered compared to 2019 this year, we are setting and increasing traffic rights with various countries. This allocation aims to support the rapid expansion of the acquired traffic rights,” adding, “We will continue to expand international air traffic rights to prioritize the convenience of people’s air travel and diversify new routes.”‘