Jeju Air to cut nearly 1,900 flights in Q1

Jeju Air announced on Wednesday that it plans to reduce nearly 1,900 flights in the first quarter of 2025.

The company will cut 1,878 flights by the end of March this year, accounting for approximately 15 percent of the total flights, with international flights making up 55 percent.

After the fatal Jeju Air plane crash accident, the trust of the South Korean people in low-cost carriers of South Korea has significantly decreased, with many canceling their tickets or switching to flights of major airlines.

According to the South Korean aviation industry, the ticket booking rates for major airlines have recently approached 90 percent, and those for low-cost carriers are only 50 percent.

Taking into account of factors such as overall ticket sales and cancellation rates, according to local media reports, it is estimated that seven low-cost airlines in South Korea will incur losses as high as 500 billion won (about 340 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of this year.

"I originally planned to become a flight attendant after graduation, but recently, due to the air crash, I began to reconsider my career path," said a resident in Seoul.

"Safety is the most important. Even if the price is higher, I will choose the airline that is safer," said another resident in Seoul.

At the same time, the tourism market has also been severely impacted in the country.

Recently, the cancellation rate of reservations at some medium and large travel agencies in South Korea has increased by about 30 percent compared to previous years, especially in the vicinity of the airplane crash site at Muan International Airport, where cancellations are more prominent.

Jeju Air to cut nearly 1,900 flights in Q1

Jeju Air to cut nearly 1,900 flights in Q1

Jeju Air to cut nearly 1,900 flights in Q1

Jeju Air to cut nearly 1,900 flights in Q1

Mutually beneficial and win-win results have formed a very important experience for economic growth in Asia, said Justin Lin Yifu, former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2026 running from Tuesday to Friday in south China's Hainan Province.

Asia remains the world's primary growth engine, with its economy forecast to expand by 4.5 percent in 2026, according to a report released by the BFA on Tuesday.

Asia's share of the global GDP is projected to continue its upward trajectory, rising from 49.2 percent in 2025 to 49.7 percent in 2026 on a purchasing power parity basis, according to the report titled "Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress Annual Report 2026."

"Asia has become a main engine for global economic growth, which involves a lot of experience. Facing challenges of the world, Asian countries can provide Asian solutions that are based on our experience," said Lin, also dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics under the Peking University.

The foundations of Asian trade integration have continued to strengthen, the report noted, citing data that intra-regional trade dependence edged up from 56.3 percent in 2023 to 57.2 percent in 2024, as major economies across the region increasingly orient their trade ties toward one another.

"Leveraging respective comparative advantages within the framework of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), and using respective growths to create development opportunities for other countries, such mutually beneficial and win-win results form a very important experience for the Asian economy," Lin said.

On the tech front, the report said, the global epicenter of artificial intelligence (AI) development is progressively shifting from Europe and the United States toward Asia.

"Capitalizing on their substantial digital populations, diverse application ecosystems, and coherent policy frameworks, Asian economies are rapidly evolving from AI followers into frontrunners," it said.

Lin said China has various comparative advantages in developing industries of the future represented by AI.

"China has a huge domestic market and rich application scenarios for AI, and as for hardwares required for AI growth, China has the world's most complete manufacturing categories to offer those. That's a great strength," he said.

Mutually beneficial, win-win results important experience for Asia's economic growth: expert