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Eastar Jet grounds all flights as travel industry worsens

Korean low-cost carrier Eastar Jet will shut down all of its flights, company officials said Saturday, amid a travel slump triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Eastar Jet will halt operation of its domestic flights from Tuesday to April 25, according to the officials. The budget carrier already suspended all of its international flights earlier this month.

Eastar is the first Korean airline to announce a closure of all of its air services due to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

“Travel demand has dropped sharply due to the novel coronavirus,” an Eastar Jet official said. “In the current situation, we lose money when we operate flights. To minimize the damage, we thought it was better to shut down our flights for a month.”

For those who already booked Eastar Jet flights, the company will help them to re-book those flights through Jeju Air, the country’s largest low-cost carrier. Jeju Air earlier this month signed a deal to acquire Easter Jet for 54.5 billion won ($43.7 million).

Yonhap