Jeju Air Adds Busan–Manila Route, Five Flights a Week

Jeju Air, one of South Korea's biggest low-cost carriers, is opening a new nonstop route between Busan and Manila. The first flight is December 17, and the route will run five times a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The airline announced the plan on Oct. 13.

Here's the schedule. The outbound flight leaves Busan's Gimhae Airport at 9:30 p.m. and lands at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 12:45 a.m., after midnight. The return leaves Manila at 1:45 a.m. and touches down in Gimhae at 7:20 a.m. the same day. All times are local to each airport.

To mark the launch, Jeju Air is running promotions. Through Oct. 25, members can use discount codes worth up to about half off, and the airline is also offering partner discounts on Philippine hotel and tour packages.

Busan's growing travel market is behind the expansion. According to the transport ministry's aviation data portal, Jeju Air carried about 1.29 million passengers on international flights from Busan through the third quarter of this year, up 13% from a year earlier. The airline currently flies 14 international routes from Busan to Mongolia, Japan, Greater China and Southeast Asia. Manila will make it 15.

Manila is a leading Philippine destination, known for Intramuros, the walled city from the Spanish colonial era. The airline also pointed to steady demand for big shopping malls, day trips to nearby islands and waterfalls, and golf trips. A Jeju Air representative said Busan is so popular with foreign tourists that a new slang term, "Busan-byeong" (roughly, "Busan fever"), has popped up, and expects more nonstop routes to bring more visitors to Korea too. The airline added that it will keep developing routes based on regional travel demand.