Jin Air adds B737-800 to strengthen fleet

Jin Air Co., the budget carrier unit of Korean Air Lines Co., said on Monday it added a B737-800 jet to its growing fleet to meet demand during the summer peak season.

With the addition of the B737-800, Jin Air's fleet is now composed of 20 B737-800s and four long-range B777-200ERs, all leased from US aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the company said in a statement.

The latest 189-seat plane was deployed on the Gimpo-Jeju Island route starting Saturday. It is also scheduled to serve on routes to Bangkok, Thailand, Sapporo, Japan and Malaysia's resort of Kota Kinabalu, it said. 

To differentiate it from five other low-cost carriers, Jin Air will continue to operate the wide-body 393-seat B737-200ERs on mid and long-haul routes such as Hawaii and Australia, the statement said.

Five others LCCs are Jeju Air, Air Busan Co., Air Seoul Inc., Eastar Jet Co. and T'way Air Co.

The six low-cost carriers transported nearly 60 percent of passengers on domestic routes and 20 percent of passengers traveling abroad in 2017. The figures were up from 55 percent and 15 percent a year earlier, respectively, according to the transport ministry. 

Last year, passengers on domestic routes jumped 11 percent on-year to 30.91 million and passengers on international routes climbed 19 percent to 73 million, it said. (Yonhap)