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By Yi Whan-woo
Any international flights departing from Korea's regional airports will be able offer duty-free shopping on board, the Korea Customs Service (KCS) announced on Thursday.
In-flight duty-free sales on planes bound for overseas destinations have been allowed only under the condition that the duty-free items are loaded directly from the airports where the corresponding planes depart.
This rule is premised on airlines operating international flights at Korea's smaller airports being equipped with their own inventories of duty-free items.
Big-name carriers could afford to have inventories at smaller airports, such as Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province and Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon Province.
But low-cost carriers could not afford to do so, as they have inventories only at three major airports in Gimpo, Incheon and Gimhae due to financial reasons.
They as a result have not offered in-flight duty-free sales.
Under the circumstances, the KCS will allow budget airlines that want to offer in-flight duty-free shopping to ship the products from major airports.
Their shipment will be made possible using domestic flights connecting major cities and rural areas.
"We expect all airlines to benefit from our revised rule on in-flight duty-free shopping around March, when we develop a related data processing system," the KCS said in a press release.
The KCS said the envisioned measure is also in line with the government's efforts to overhaul regulations and boost the market-driven economy.
Airlines have been focusing on nurturing in-flight duty-free shopping as a means of diversifying their income structures. However, the introduction of on-arrival duty-free shops has been negatively affecting their expansion.
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