JEJU, South Korea - Kim Bo-Min, a Starbucks barista, paid 140,000 won for a round-trip from her hometown of Daegu to the popular resort island of Jeju, arriving on T’Way Air Co Ltd, part of South Korea’s rapidly growing low-cost airline sector.
“I have taken both full-service airlines and budget carriers for my previous Jeju trips, but I do not think there is much difference when it comes to services,” she told Reuters after her flight of under one hour to Jeju. The budget airline boom has fueled a spike in travel to Jeju, with the number of tourists jumping almost three-fold to 14.3 million over 2005-2018 from 5.3 million, Jeju Tourism Association data shows.South Korea’s five no-frills carriers had a 61% share of the Jeju travel market in 2018, according to data firm OAG.
The country’s transport ministry in March issued aviation business licenses to three additional budget carriers, further crowding the industry and intensifying competition. “We should not underestimate how important the role of budget carriers are on a given route,” said Park Seong-bong, a senior analyst at Seoul-based Hana Financial Investment.With the fleet size of the country’s budget carriers jumping three-fold over the past five years, legacy carriers Korean Air and Asiana are feeling the heat.