April 17, 2024

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Jeju Air on Feb. 12 announced that it has become the first low-cost carrier in Korea to cross the 1 trillion won (US$891.18 million) milestone in annual sales last year.

The leading budget carrier said in a regulatory filing that its revenue in 2018 amounted to 1.26 trillion won, a sharp 26.4 percent increase from the previous year.

(Jeju Air)

A Jeju Air spokesperson explained the rise in sales was due to its aggressive expansion strategy consisting of “fleet addition of eight planes to launch new routes, diversification of destinations at preferred tourist sites such as Japan and Southeast Asia, and in-flight café services, among others.”

Korea’s first LCC, founded in 2005 as a joint venture between Aekyung Group and Jeju Island government, has maintained an upward trend in its operating profit for 18 straight quarters since the third quarter of 2014

In the past two years in particular, the carrier has achieved a steep growth, expanding its number of routes from 45 in 2017 to 67 last year, and marking a 25 percent increase in ancillary revenue from 78.90 billion won to 98.80 billion won. It also retained an operating profit of over 100 billion won for two consecutive years despite the high oil prices.

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)