Budget Airliners to Launch Int`l Flight in July

Jeju Air, a subsidiary of Aekyung Group, will launch its first-ever international flight on July 11.

It will open the door of the international flight market for the country’s budget airliners. The air fare is expected to be around 80 percent of the major airliners’.

Jeju Air said yesterday that it received permission to operate chartered airplanes on the Jeju-Hiroshima line from the Ministry of Land, Transport and Marine Affairs, and concluded arrangement for its non-regular air schedules.

So far, only Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have operated international flights.

Jeju Air rented a B737-800 aircraft (photo) from Indian budget airline SpiceJet, to cover relatively longer flying miles on international flights.

The aircraft went through a remodeling process in Jakarta, including transformation of all its 189 seats into economy class seats and painting of Jeju Air logo on its body. Jeju Air will use it on the Gimpo-Jeju route in June and a chartered plane on the Jeju-Hiroshima route starting July 11.

jinhup@donga.com