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| In this undated provided photo, travelers line up for boarding procedures at a terminal in Gimpo International Airport, as Gimpo-Haneda flights resumed on June 29. Courtesy of Korea Airports Corp. |
By Lee Hae-rin
Flights connecting Gimpo International Airport to Osaka, Japan, and Taipei, Taiwan, will resume on Sunday, after a hiatus of two years and seven months caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Airports Corp. (KAC) said, Saturday. The only international routes that remain halted from the country's second-largest airport are the ones to Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai.
According to the KAC, the Gimpo-Osaka route will have 28 weekly flights, while the Gimpo-Taipei route will be served with six trips a week, on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. By the end of the year, low-cost carriers EVA Air and T'way Air will each add eight more trips per week to the Gimpo-Taipei route.
"The flights to Japan and Taiwan (from Korea) are key routes that took about 44 percent of the total international passengers before the pandemic and the resumption," KAC President and CEO Yoon Hyeong-jung said in a statement, explaining that the resumption will help put international air travel in the country back on track.
Before the pandemic, Gimpo-Osaka and Gimpo-Taipei were popular air routes with 84 and 74 weekly flights respectively, carrying over 240,000 passengers combined every year. The booking rate of the first trip from Gimpo to Osaka on Sunday is at 98.4 percent as of Friday, the KAC said.
In November, flights between Gimpo and Haneda, Japan, which resumed earlier in June, will see an increase in the number of flights from 56 to 112 per week.
More air routes will be available from Korea to Japan and Taiwan at regional airports, the KAC said. The organization's upcoming air routes include Gimhae-Taipei, Daegu-Osaka and Yangyang-Tokyo.
Also, five international airports ― Gimpo, Gimhae, Jeju, Daegu and Yangyang ― will operate more international flights. Gimhae will have 23 international routes with 508 weekly flights, including Tokyo, Taipei and Singapore, while Daegu's airport will run nine routes with 34 weekly flights to destinations including Tokyo, Osaka and Bangkok.
In December, the five international airports will operate 1,056 international flights a week. The figure triples today's 362 and marks a 43 percent recovery to pre-pandemic levels.
The KAC operates 14 international and domestic airports nationwide, except for Incheon International Airport, and provides integrated aviation services.
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