Jeju Air doubles daily service to Saipan

An additional 60,000 seats have been added to the CNMI’s inbound tourism market after Jeju Air launched a second daily flight to Saipan from Incheon last Sunday, March 29, doubling its daily service.

The additional daily flight will potentially usher in a rapid growth in Korean arrivals for the remainder of this fiscal year.

Jeju Air Saipan branch manager Yu Seok Kim confirmed with Saipan Tribune yesterday that the Korean budget airline launched its second daily flight over the weekend.

David Song, Marianas Visitors Authority’s Korean marketing specialist, said that Jeju Air informed MVA at the end of February that it would be adding a second daily flight from Incheon to Saipan.

With a total of 174 seats per flight, Jeju Air’s second daily flight has the potential of bringing in an additional 5,000 tourists from Korea each month, according to Song.

Jeju Air’s summer schedule operates every day of the week from March 29 last Saturday to Oct. 24.

For morning flights on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, Jeju Air flights arrive on Saipan at 3:40am. They depart at 4:35am.

On Thursday and Friday, Jeju arrives at 3:40am and leaves at 5:25am.

For afternoon flights on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, Jeju arrives from Incheon at 3:20pm. The flight departs for Korea at 4:20pm.

On Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, Jeju arrives at 4:25pm. The flight leaves at 5:25pm.

Jeju Air, which flies a Boeing 737-800, launched its inaugural flight to Saipan in October last year, adding 60,000 seats and upping Korean arrivals to the islands.

Before Jeju Air launched its inaugural flights, arrivals in September was 9,602. It rose by 10 percent in October to 12,557. By November, Korean arrivals have skyrocketed by 31 percent to a total of 16,227 visitors. It soared again in December by 43 percent bringing in 19,485 visitors.

In January this year, the Korean market saw an increase of 53 percent for 21,145 Korean visitors, its highest monthly total on record. In February, Korean tourists totaled 18,905.

MVA managing director Perry Tenorio said that Jeju Air’s flights technically doubles the daily service as far as this fiscal year is concerned but it doesn’t completely doubles the market.

Song said that Jeju Air targets those who travel independently, while Asiana Airlines is the main carrier for families.

“This is because with Jeju Air, Korean tourists can travel independently at low costs, so it is in a different category with Asiana so they aren’t competing,” he said.

Tenorio said that as of now, Korea continues to be the No. 1 source market of the CNMI. (With Dennis B. Chan)