Airfares soar as airlines struggle to keep up with pent-up flight demand

Airlines are getting back on their feet under eased Covid-19 travel restrictions, but travelers face ascending airfares as travel demand rockets above flight supply. Airfares rose some 25 percent on average compared to pre-pandemic levels...

Passengers form a queue in the departure hall of Gimpo International Airport on March 19. [NEWS1]

Airlines are getting back on their feet under eased Covid-19 travel restrictions, but travelers face ascending airfares as travel demand rockets above flight supply.

Airfares rose some 25 percent on average compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to the airline industry last Thursday. Korean Air Lines’ economy class round-trip ticket for Incheon-Beijing flights, including tax and fuel surcharge, ranged from 455,000 won to 838,000 won ($345 to $635) on April 1. For Incheon-Atlanta flights, fares ranged from 1.94 million won to 5.21 million won. Fewer than 10 seats were priced below 2 million won.

Round-trip flights to Osaka rise above 600,000 won during the weekends, which were usually below 400,000 won in 2019. Flights to Germany begin at 1.4 million won, up from 1 million in 2019.

The fare hike also applies to domestic routes. A one-way ticket for Gimpo-Jeju flights during the weekend costs around 50,000 won in April. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Gimpo-Jeju flights charged half the current price.

The slow recovery of supplies has contributed to the rising cost.

Korean Air Lines currently operates a total of 622 flights per week, 33 percent short of the number of flights compared to April 2019. The number of flights to the Americas recovered to 94 percent of pre-pandemic figures, but trips to Japan linger at 60 percent and China at 45 percent.

Low-cost carriers are also flying fewer domestic flights this year.

Jeju Air flew 116 domestic flights per week in April last year, but currently flies 74. Jeju Air and other budget airlines have recently been allocating their aircraft to travel international routes to Southeast Asia to compensate for what they missed out on during Covid. Jeju Air operates 110 international flights weekly. It flew three per week a year ago.

Airliners want to supply more flights, but the decreased number of aircraft and employees are preventing them from doing so.

Jeju Air had 45 aircraft in April 2019, but now has 37. Asiana Airlines cut back by four airplanes over the same period. The fact that airlines laid off employees from overseas operation sites also drags supply.

On the other hand, flight demand is high.

“Unleashed pent-up demand is outpacing supply,” said a source from the airline industry, adding that the demand will stay ahead of supply for the time being.

Airlines have registered to fly 724 flights per day on average this month, and 140,000 people are expected to fly each day, according to Incheon International Airport. Both numbers are some 75 percent of what they were in April 2019.

BY LEE SOO-KI [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]