S.Korea releases winter schedule for weekly int’l flights

South Korea will expand its number of weekly flights this winter to Japan and Southeast Asia, two regions expected to have high demand that season, and launch new routes to Poland, Vietnam and China.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Thursday said it set the schedule for regular international flights for the winter period of Oct. 29 to March 30 after reviewing applications from domestic and foreign airlines.

Thus the weekly volume of international flights over the period will be 4,300 (roundtrip) on as many as 221 routes, up 12% from 3,823 last month. Air travel demand is forecast to match 93% of the average 4,619 in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. 

Three destinations with high demand in winter will see more flights from last month: Japan with an additional 108, Southeast Asia 152 and Oceania eight.

New regular routes include Incheon-Wroclaw, Poland; Gimhae-Phu Quoc, Vietnam; Jeju Island-Hefei, China; Cheongju-Zhangjiajie, China; and Muan County-Nha Trang, Vietnam.

Write to Mi-Kyoung Lee at capital@hankyung.com