Kakao Mobility takes flight booking services overseas

Kakao Mobility CEO Ryu Gung-seon [KAKAO MOBILITY]

Kakao Mobility began to offer a booking service for international flights Monday, a year after the company started its domestic flight booking service.

The service is offered in collaboration with Tidesquare, a Seoul-based travel company that provides flight booking services.

Kakao Mobility, which is 57 percent owned by Kakao, runs Kakao T, a mobile app known mostly for its taxi-hailing service. Kakao T users can also rent cars and book bus or train tickets on the app.

The latest addition to its mobility service is in line with the company’s vision for global expansion. In order to expand its service outside the Korean borders, Kakao Mobility allowed those traveling within Southeast Asian regions to use local taxi-hailing services through its Kakao T app in May. The goal is to make its services available in more than 120 countries, according to the company.

Kakao Mobility aims to make taxi-hailing services and airport pick-up services available for those who book flight tickets to Guam within the third quarter of this year.

“Kakao Mobility declared 2022 as a new year zero for global expansion and is looking for a variety of new solutions to enable seamless mobility connectivity around the globe,” said Kakao Mobility CEO Ryu Gung-seon.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]