Korean LCC T’way enjoys healthy earnings on preemptive investment

South Korean budget airline T'way Air Co. reported strong earnings as it benefited from its preemptive move of introducing new aircraft to increase passengers during COVID-19 when global travel demand plunged.

T’way, the country’s second-largest low-cost carrier, on Friday expected sales in 2023 to top the 1 trillion won ($765.5 million) mark as its revenue in the first three quarters more than tripled to 989.8 billion won on-year. It reported an operating profit of 137.1 billion won on a consolidated basis in the January-September period, swinging from a loss of 100.8 billion won a year earlier.

The LCC served 8.3 million passengers in the first 10 months of the year, up 25.2% from 6.6 million in 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19, according to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Jeju Air Co., the country’s largest budget airline, carried 10.2 million passengers, while Jin Air Co., the LCC of Korean Air Lines Co., provided services to 8.2 million customers.

TO ADD SEVEN AIRPLANES IN 2024

T’way launched flights to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia in June, as well as Ulaanbaatar in July.

It resumed services between Incheon, South Korea’s main gateway, and Hong Kong and Saga, Japan in July and September, respectively.

The LCC, which currently operates 30 airplanes, plans to introduce seven more including the Airbus A330-300 next year.

“We are enjoying the fastest growth in the industry thanks to our preemptive introduction of new aircraft,” said a T’way official. “We aim to sustain the growth through effective aircraft operations and route strategies.”

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at misunny@hankyung.com
 

Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.