Passengers flown by budget carriers tripled on-year in 2009

SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Yonhap) -- The number of domestic passengers carried by four
South Korean low-cost carriers jumped nearly three-fold on-year to 5 million last
year, a report said Friday.

About 28 percent of all the 18 million passengers on domestic flights last year
flew with the four budget carriers -- Jeju Air Co., Air Busan Co., Jin Air Co.
and Eastar Jet Co., according to the report by Korea Airports Corp., the
country's airport operator.
The figure were up almost three times compared with 9.7 percent in 2008, the
report said.
The number of those who were carried by budget carriers on domestic flights
accounted for 20.8 percent of the total domestic passengers in the January-March
period of last year, followed by 25.8 percent in the second quarter, 31.1 percent
in the third quarter and 31.8 percent in the fourth quarter.
On the most lucrative domestic route between Gimpo and Jeju, the number of
passengers transported by the budget carriers more than doubled to 2.72 million
last year, compared with 1.16 million a year ago.
By carrier, Jeju Air was the top carrier, filing 947,000 passengers on the
Gimp-Jeju route in 2009, which represent 12 percent of all domestic passengers.
The carrier was trailed by Jin Air with 11.9 percent and Eastar Jet with 10.4
percent.
ksnam@yna.co.kr
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