According to a report from Financial News, last year, one out of four aircraft from Korean airlines departed or arrived at least 15 minutes later than scheduled. Data submitted to the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Committee by Democratic Party member An Tae-jun revealed that the average delay rate for both domestic and international flights from ten Korean airlines was 25.7% last year.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport considers a flight delayed if it departs or arrives at the gate more than 15 minutes past the scheduled time indicated on the ticket. Under this criterion, out of 678,489 flights last year, 174,078 were delayed. Specifically, 82,214 out of 370,306 domestic flights (22.2%) and 91,864 out of 308,183 international flights (29.8%) were recorded as delayed.
The annual delay rate last year increased by 2.1 percentage points from the previous year to 23.6%. While the domestic flight delay rate decreased by 1.5 percentage points, the international flight delay rate increased by 6.5 percentage points, raising the overall delay rate. A representative from the Ministry noted that increased international flight operations led to more airport congestion, and frequent turbulence resulted in partial restrictions on international routes.
Air Seoul had the highest delay rate for international flights, with 46.6% (4,492 out of 9,644 flights) being delayed. Eastar Jet followed with a 38% delay rate (4,374 out of 11,507 flights), and Jin Air with 35.4% (11,370 out of 32,115 flights). On the other hand, Air Busan had the lowest delay rate for international flights, with only 17.3% (3,866 out of 22,344 flights) delayed.
Foreign airlines had an average international delay rate of 24.9% last year. Among domestic flights, T’way Air had the highest delay rate at 31.3%, with 13,635 out of 43,628 flights delayed. Air Seoul followed with a 31% delay rate (1,330 out of 4,296 flights). Asiana Airlines had the lowest delay rate for domestic flights at 17.2% (9,388 out of 54,464 flights).
A total of 4,648 flights were delayed due to maintenance issues (combining domestic and international flights), with the delay rate increasing by 0.1% from the previous year to 0.7%. Air Premia recorded the highest annual delay rate among Korean airlines at 2.7% (68 out of 2,479 flights), followed by T’way Air and Air Busan with delay rates of 1.1% (900 out of 79,675 flights) and 0.91% (576 out of 63,178 flights), respectively.