Jeju Air inks $4.4 billion deal to purchase 40 new planes

Jeju Air, Korea’s biggest budget carrier by sales, said, on Tuesday, that it inked a $4.4 billion deal for 40 new planes, with the delivery set to begin in 2022.

Jeju Air has decided to buy Boeing’s new B737 MAX passenger jets to strengthen its fleet, the company said in a statement.

The low-cost carrier plans to assign the 189-seat B737 MAX on its mid and long-haul routes as they are more fuel efficient than the planes it currently operates, a company spokeswoman said over the phone.

The new jets have a range of some 6,500 kilometers, 1,000 km more than the B737-800NG that the company currently operates.

In the January-September period, net profit jumped 31 percent to 84.86 billion won ($75 million) from 64.61 billion won a year earlier. Operating profit climbed 14 percent to 95.82 billion won from 83.79 billion won during same period. Sales were up 28 percent to 941.93 billion won from 734.78 billion won.

Jeju Air said it is on track to achieve sales of over 1 trillion won this year on the back of a strengthened fleet and profitable routes.

Yonhap