Matsuyama up 11%, Oita up 12%

Passenger growth outpaces seat supply

High fuel costs, weak won drive demand for short- and medium-haul routes

Shizuoka, Japan, and Matsuyama Castle. [Jejuair]
Shizuoka, Japan, and Matsuyama Castle. [Jejuair]

Jejuair said Monday that passenger numbers on its Incheon–Hiroshima and Incheon–Shizuoka routes rose more than 40 percent in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period last year. Routes to Matsuyama and Oita also posted double-digit growth.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's aviation information portal, Jejuair carried about 184,000 passengers on the Incheon–Hiroshima route through the end of September, up 42 percent from roughly 129,000 in the same period last year. The Incheon–Shizuoka route saw about 178,000 passengers, a 41 percent increase from approximately 126,000 a year earlier.

Over the same period, seat supply on the two routes expanded 21 percent and 12 percent, respectively, meaning passenger growth significantly outpaced the increase in available seats.

The Incheon–Matsuyama route carried about 188,000 passengers, up 11 percent from roughly 169,000 last year, while seat supply grew 5 percent. The Incheon–Oita route recorded about 53,000 passengers, a 12 percent increase from approximately 47,000 a year earlier.

Jejuair said passenger gains on routes to smaller Japanese cities — even where seat supply remained largely unchanged from last year — reflect growing travel demand for those destinations.

Beyond major Japanese cities such as Tokyo (Narita), Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Okinawa, Jejuair has expanded its network to regional cities including Hiroshima, Shizuoka, Matsuyama, Oita, Kobe and Kagoshima. Passengers on its smaller Japanese city routes grew from about 610,000 in 2024 to about 760,000 in 2025, and the carrier has already logged about 700,000 through the third quarter of this year.

"As high fuel prices and a weak won increase the cost of travel, travelers are gravitating toward short- and medium-haul routes that offer relatively affordable fares, and interest in lesser-known Japanese cities as new destinations is also growing," a Jejuair official said.

Meanwhile, Jejuair became the fastest low-cost carrier among South Korean airlines to surpass 10 million cumulative passengers this year. According to the ministry's aviation portal, Jejuair carried a total of about 10.13 million passengers from January through September — roughly 3.64 million on domestic routes and about 6.49 million on international routes — up 13.1 percent from the same period last year.

The carrier set two records simultaneously: its fastest-ever pace to reach 10 million passengers in a single year and its highest-ever passenger count for the January-to-September period. Jejuair has pursued a flexible route strategy this year, adding frequencies and launching new services on Japan and China routes.


eyre@heraldcorp.com