Jeju Air cancels 68,000 flight tickets a day after accident

Just one day after the accident that killed 179 people, 68,000 bookings, equivalent to the number of passengers on more than 300 Jeju Air flights, were canceled.

Yonhap quoted sources in the Korean aviation industry as saying that due to concerns about flight safety after the tragic accident on December 29 , the number of tour and flight cancellations has increased dramatically today.

As of 1 p.m. on December 30 (local time) - about a day after the incident, Jeju Air reported that about 68,000 bookings 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 narrow-body Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a maximum capacity of nearly 200 people.

South Korean travel agencies have also reported a spike in tour cancellations. Many have suspended advertising and promotions. "We received about 40 tour cancellations yesterday alone. Cancellations are double the usual number and new bookings are down 50 percent," said one travel agency, who declined to be named.

According to Yonhap , the Korean tourism industry is closely monitoring the situation. At the same time, they predict that the market will continue to be affected as tourists' concerns about aviation safety continue to rise.

Jeju Air logo in front of the airline's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea on December 29. Photo: Yonhap

On the morning of December 29, a Jeju Air plane carrying 181 passengers and crew members crashed at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, about 290 km from Seoul. All 179 people on board were killed.

The plane had departed from Bangkok, Thailand. According to witnesses near Muan Airport, the plane may have collided with a flock of birds as it was about to land. The plane then aborted the landing and accelerated but was unable to regain altitude, so it circled at low altitude to try to land at the opposite end of the runway.

On the second landing attempt, the plane appeared to be unable to deploy its landing gear and had to land on its belly. Unable to control its speed, the plane veered off the runway, crashed into a fence and burst into flames.

This morning, another Jeju Air 737-800 also experienced a landing gear problem and had to make an emergency landing. The passengers then boarded another flight and continued their journey.

Jeju Air shares opened the trading session on December 30th, falling 15.7%, the lowest since the airline went public in 2015. However, by the end of the session, the decline had narrowed to 8.65%. AK Holdings shares - the airline's parent company - also fell 12%, the lowest in 16 years.

Before this incident, Jeju Air was the most popular low-cost carrier (LCC) in Korea for many years. Jeju Air is also the first and largest low-cost airline in Korea. In terms of the overall market, Jeju is the second largest after the national carrier Korean Air.

The airline has a fleet of 42 aircraft, mainly Boeing 737-800 narrow-body aircraft. According to statistics, each Jeju Air aircraft operates an average of 13.5 hours a day. The airline operates an average of 217 flights per day.

By the first quarter of 2024, the low-cost airline will have 3,000 employees. Its main airports are Gimpo, Incheon (Seoul) and Jeju. Last year, Jeju Air carried 12.3 million passengers and recorded revenue of about $1.31 billion. Revenue for the entire year of 2024 is estimated at nearly $1.5 billion.