Just one day after the accident that killed 179 people, 68,000 reservations, equivalent to the number of passengers on more than 300 Jeju Air flights, were canceled.
Yonhap Citing sources in the Korean aviation industry, citing concerns about flight safety after the tragic accident on December 29, the number of tour and air ticket cancellations has increased dramatically today.
By 1pm on December 30 (local time) – about a day after the incident, Jeju Air announced that about 68,000 reservations had been canceled, including 33,000 seats on domestic flights and 34,000 seats on international flights.
This number is equivalent to the number of passengers on more than 300 flights of this airline. Because Jeju Air uses a fleet mainly of Boeing 737-800 narrow-body boats with a maximum capacity of nearly 200 people.
Korean travel companies also recorded a sudden increase in canceled tours. Many units have temporarily stopped advertising and promotional programs. “We received about 40 tour cancellation requests just yesterday. Cancellations doubled compared to normal days and new bookings decreased by 50%,” said an anonymous travel company.
Theo Yonhapthe Korean tourism industry is closely monitoring the situation. At the same time, they predict the market will continue to be further affected as travelers’ concerns about aviation safety continue to increase.
Jeju Air logo in front of the airline’s headquarters in Seoul, South Korea on December 29. Image: Yonhap
On the morning of December 29, a Jeju Air plane carrying 181 passengers and crew members crashed at Muan International Airport, South Jeolla Province, about 290 km from the capital Seoul. 179 people on the plane were killed.
Previously, this plane departed from the capital Bangkok (Thailand). According to some witnesses in the area near Muan airport, the plane may have collided with a flock of birds when it was about to land. After that, the plane canceled the landing, accelerated but could not regain altitude, had to circle at low altitude to find a way to land at the opposite end of the runway.
On the second landing, the plane seemed unable to deploy its landing gear, so it had to land on the runway on its belly. Because the speed could not be controlled, the plane flew off the runway, crashed into a fence and caught fire.
This morning, another Jeju Air 737-800 aircraft also had a landing gear problem and had to make an emergency landing. After that, the passenger boarded another flight and continued their journey.
Opening the trading session on December 30, Jeju Air shares decreased by 15.7%, the lowest since the airline listed in 2015. However, at the close of the session, the decrease narrowed to 8.65%. AK Holdings shares – the airline’s parent company – also dropped 12%, the lowest in 16 years.
Before this incident happened, Jeju Air was the most popular low-cost airline (LCC) among Korean customers for many years. Jeju Air is also currently the first and largest established low-cost airline in Korea. If considering the entire market, Jeju is the second largest only after the national airline Korean Air.
The airline owns a fleet of 42 aircraft, mainly Boeing 737-800 narrow-body aircraft. According to statistics, on average each Jeju Air aircraft operates 13.5 hours a day. Every day, the airline has an average of 217 flights.
By the first quarter of 2024, this low-cost airline has 3,000 employees. The airline’s main airports are Gimpo, Incheon (Seoul) and Jeju. All last year, Jeju Air transported 12.3 million passengers and recorded revenue of about 1.31 billion USD. Revenue for the whole year 2024 is estimated at nearly 1.5 billion USD.