Eastar Jet resumes international flights after challenging hiatus

Eastar Jet President and CEO Cho Joong-seok and employees hand out souvenirs to the passengers on their inaugural international flight to Taipei from Seoul on Saturday. [EASTAR JET]

Debt-ridden Korean budget carrier Eastar Jet resumed international flights on Saturday after a hiatus of 3 years and 6 months.

The airline made its comeback with the commencement of flights on the Gimpo-Taipei route, linking Korea's Gimpo Airport and Taiwan's Songshan Airport on Saturday. The round-trip flights achieved an 96 percent average occupancy rate, accommodating a total of 361 passengers.

"I sincerely would like to thank our passengers who joined us on Eastar Airlines' first international flight, as we aim for a fresh start," Park Ji-hyun, the captain of the flights to and from Taipei, said. "I hope you make wonderful memories with Eastar Jet in Taiwan."

Starting with the Taipei route, Eastar Jet plans to expand to destinations like Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok and Da Nang in September, with further expansion to Fukuoka and Nha Trang routes in October.

Eastar Jet's resumption of international flights comes for the first time since Feb. 25, 2020, when it halted international flight operations in the face of challenges such as the boycott movement against Japan in 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Additionally, the founder of the Korean budget carrier faced charges of embezzlement, breach of trust as well as illegal hiring.

Nevertheless, the company graduated from the court-led debt-rescheduling in March 2022 and was subsequently acquired by VIG Partners in January this year.

Their domestic flight operations resumed on March 26.

"We will establish ourselves as a dependable travel partner by enhancing our competitiveness through the transition to next-generation aircraft and actively expanding our flight routes in the future," said Cho Joong-seok, President of Eastar Jet.

Eastar Jet's operating loss was 48.8 billion won ($36.95 million) with a net loss of 49.7 billion won as of the end-2022.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]