The Democratic Party said Tuesday that it will push to increase flights on the Gimpo-Jeju route from July amid a seat shortage on the line.
Kim Han-kyu, deputy floor policy chief, along with lawmakers Moon Dae-lim and Kim Sung-bum, who represent constituencies on Jeju Island, conveyed the plans at a "meeting on the Gimpo-Jeju flight seat shortage" held at the National Assembly that day.
Meeting with reporters after the closed-door session, Kim said, "The government will actively recommend that airlines minimize flight reductions, and we will push for the route to be expanded starting in July."
He added, "As a mid- to long-term plan, we will assess whether airlines comply with their business plans in terms of operational reliability when evaluating them, and if found lacking, we will even consider disadvantages in future traffic rights allocation."
"Specifically, in the case of Jeju Airport, there was talk that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is planning measures to prioritize slot allocation for domestic routes, and to waive landing fees from July for airlines that increase flights compared to last year," he said. "We were also told they would prepare additional measures to expand flights."
Moon said, "I understand that the existing plan to expand airport infrastructure stopped after only the first phase was carried out. The first phase was an expansion plan designed with 40 flights in mind, but it was subsequently limited to 35 flights." He added, "That amounts to MOLIT itself admitting that the expansion plan design was flawed from the start."
The meeting was also attended by Han Byung-do, acting Democratic Party leader and floor leader, as well as officials from MOLIT and the aviation industry. In his opening remarks, Han said, "The cause of the flight reductions must be examined closely by looking at differences in implementation rates among airlines." He added, "If there were difficulties in operating conditions, the reasons why aircraft could not be flown must be disclosed transparently."
In his opening remarks, Kim Sung-bum said, "It is true that the supervisory agency's response has also been disappointing." He added, "The management system should be improved somewhat, and if necessary, legislative solutions should be sought as well."
