About half of Eastar Jet's foreign passengers used routes connecting to Greater China, the airline showed.
According to industry sources Tuesday, of the 1.02 million foreigners who flew with Eastar Jet last year, approximately 500,000 traveled on Greater China routes. In the first quarter of this year, Greater China route passengers totaled around 130,000, accounting for more than 43% of the overall 300,000 foreign passengers.
By route, Greater China travelers showed the strongest preference for Jeju. The share of foreign passengers on the Jeju-Taipei route has risen steadily, from 86% in 2024 to 94% last year and 96% in the first quarter of this year. The share of foreigners using the Jeju-Shanghai route reached 98% in the first quarter.
Foreign tourists visiting Busan are also on the rise. The share of foreign passengers on the Busan-Taipei route climbed to 92% in March this year, up 23 percentage points from 69% in January.
For the Incheon-Hong Kong route, which launched in March this year, the share of foreign passengers has been maintained at around 90%. The shares of foreign passengers on the Gimpo-Taipei (Songshan) and Incheon-Zhengzhou routes stood at 69% and 73%, respectively, in the first quarter of this year.
"To expand our presence in the Greater China market, we are deploying veteran sales staff as local branch managers and broadening our networks with travel agencies and corporate clients," Eastar Jet said.
