Korean LCCs cancel China-bound flights due to COVID-19

Toughened COVID-19 testing requirements on Chinese travelers will likely dent hopes for South Korea's low-cost airlines to recover from three years of losses, delaying their plans to increase flights to their key destination.

As China is preparing to allow its citizens to travel abroad, a surge in COVID-19 infections in the neighboring country has led governments across the world to step up quarantine measures against passengers arriving from China.

Korean Air Lines Co. has recently scrapped a plan to increase China-bound flights, according to industry sources on Tuesday. The South Korean flag carrier was supposed to add six flights to its Chinese routes to 15 a week.

But it will continue to run nine flights departing for China a week for the time being.

Asiana Airlines Inc. shelved a plan this week to reopen flights from Incheon in South Korea to Guangzhou, Qingdao, and Tianjin, alongside a plan to increase Incheon-Shenzhen routes.

Among the country’s five budget carriers, T’way Air Co. suspended the existing line to Yanji in Jilin Province from Daegu, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Air Busan Co. put on hold a plan to resume its Busan-Yanju line on Jan. 4. The low-cost carrier will also bring its Busan-Qingdao route to a halt this week.

Jin Air Co. will suspend flights from Jeju Island in South Korea to China’s Xi’An.

QUARANTINE MEASURES

Such moves come after South Korea tightened quarantine measures against Chinese travelers to the levels at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It bans all flights arriving from China from landing at local airports.

Instead, they have to use Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s hub airport.

From Jan. 2, all passengers from China are required to get polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19. Seoul also has stopped short-term visa issues to Chinese travelers until the end of this month.

The heightened quarantine rules will throw cold water on expectations that Korean LCCs might recover from their cumulative losses. They have been in three years of losses since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020.

China-bound flights had been vital for their business since short-haul flights made up a big chunk of their revenue.

Before COVID-19 struck, China-bound flights had made up 10-20% of revenue at Korean budget carriers.

Their business will likely to return to normalcy only after COVID-19 measures are loosened, industry observers said.

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at Kkm1026@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article