Domestic Budget Airline Ready for Takeoff
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Korea is about to get its own budget airline industry, with cheap flights starting at the end of the month. Korea’s first no-frills carrier, the Cheongju-based Hansung Airlines, announced Tuesday it has permission from the Seoul Regional Aviation Administration to start flights to Jeju on Aug. 31. Meanwhile, Jeju Island-based Jeju Air is applying for a business license and plans to start operating next June. The world’s first low-cost carrier was Southwest Airlines in the U.S., which started business in 1971. Such airlines rely for their often astonishingly low fares on keeping overheads to a minimum. Hansung Airlines has priced a one-way ticket from Cheongju to Jeju at W45,000 (US$45) on weekdays, W52,000 at weekends and W60,000 during high season, which is about 30 percent lower than Korean Air. Gimpo-Jeju flights, which it will start operating in October, will cost between W50,000 and W70,000, again 30 percent cheaper than Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. Jeju Air will start its service with four domestic routes — Gimpo-Jeju, Gimpo-Busan, Gimpo-Yangyang, and Busan-Jeju — and expand to short international routes to Japan and China. Jeju Air will set the ticket price at around 70 percent of existing airlines, much like Hansung. As airlines headquartered in provincial towns are mushrooming, there is hope that it will revive their airports. But others say demand for domestic flights is unlikely to go up much since express trains go just about everywhere in the country. Korean Air and Asiana already have long-term plans to cut back on domestic flights. Even budget airlines would not always be able to compete with express train fares. If Jeju Air set the price of Gimpo-Busan one-way tickets at 70 percent of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, it will still remain at around W44,000 to W57,000, while the express train ticket is W44,800. Safety is another concern. The aviation accidents that occurred abroad recently happened on low-cost carriers. However, Hansung Airlines has vowed to do its utmost to dispel safety concerns, even if it means spending more money. Source : english.chosun.com |