Eastar Jet benefits most from the rapid rise in the passenger volume to China

 Report, photo copyright by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

According to South Korea's Asia Daily, the South Korea-China air passenger market has continued to heat up this year. Driven by factors such as visa-free travel policies and increased demand for short-haul outbound tourism, passenger volume on South Korea-China routes increased by over 20% year-on-year in the first half of the year, reaching the second highest level for the same period in history. Faced with the continued recovery in travel demand, South Korean low-cost carriers (LCCs), in particular Eastar Jet,  are also accelerating the expansion of their China routes.

Data released on 19 August 2026 by the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's aviation information portal shows that in the first half of this year, passenger volume on routes between South Korea and mainland China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) reached 9,544,512, a year-on-year increase of 22.3%. This not only surpasses the 8,754,786 passengers in the same period of 2019 before the pandemic but also approaches the historical high of 9,643,203 passengers in the same period of 2016.

If the current growth momentum continues in the second half of the year, the total number of passengers on South Korea-China routes this year is expected to exceed 20 million for the first time, surpassing the annual high of 19,857,325 passengers in 2016.

The increase in passenger traffic has prompted South Korean airlines to accelerate their expansion in the Chinese market. In April 2026, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport allocated 25 routes to China, with 97 flights per week, to nine domestic airlines. Among them, Eastar Jet, Jeju Air, Parata Air and Aero K, four low-cost carriers, received a total of 80 flights per week, accounting for more than 80% of the newly added route rights, becoming the main force in this round of expansion of routes to China.

Eastar Jet has been granted 37 weekly flight rights and plans to launch or increase flights to Hohhot, Zhangjiajie, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. Once fully operational, its number of Chinese destinations will increase from 8 to 19. Jeju Air has been granted 15 weekly flight rights and will further expand its routes to Shanghai, Guilin, Chengdu, and Chongqing.

The visa-free policy is considered a key factor driving passenger growth in the South Korean aviation industry. China implemented a visa-free entry policy for holders of South Korean ordinary passports starting in November 2024, and extended this policy until the end of this year. South Korea also extended its visa-free entry policy for Chinese group tourists until the end of this year, further facilitating people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Middle East has driven up fuel surcharges on some long-haul routes, making the price advantage of short-haul destinations in neighboring countries like China even more prominent. Changes in Sino-Japanese relations have also influenced tourist flows to some extent. Data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) shows that approximately 2.05 million Chinese tourists visited Japan in the first half of this year, a decrease of 56% year-on-year.