Jin Air opens Busan-Kota Kinabalu route
Published on: Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Passengers of the inaugural Jin Air Busan-KK flight given a warm welcome on arrival at KKIA.
Kota Kinabalu: A Jin Air flight with full capacity from Busan, South Korea landed at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), here, at 11.50pm on Dec 23.The aircraft was greeted with a water arch, courtesy of Malaysia Airport Berhad through its Airport Fire and Rescue Service, to celebrate the inaugural flight.ADVERTISEMENT
All 180 passengers, including captains and cabin crew, received a traditional welcome at the arrival gate.
Jin Air is now flying from Busan to Kota Kinabalu daily. Busan is the second largest city in South Korea with the largest seaport in the country.
Jin Air Co. Ltd. CEO Park Byung-Ryool said:
“It is a great honour to serve more passengers to Kota Kinabalu from Korea. On behalf of Jin Air, I would like to highly applaud every one of you who helped us in realising the launch of this new route from Busan, especially the authorities and Sabah Tourism Board.ADVERTISEMENT
“We will do our utmost best for the passengers’ convenience with safety at the top of our agenda.”
In April 2022, Sabah Tourism Board led by its Chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai and Chief Executive Director Noredah Othman went to Seoul to meet with Korean airline operators and top agents to re-establish rapport in the wake of the global reopening of borders for travel.
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“We are happy to see that we are once again connected with Busan, and now through Jin Air. Based on the preliminary report I received, it is very encouraging to hear that the average load factor of all Korean flights to Kota Kinabalu from Seoul is more than 70 per cent.
“I believe this suggests that the route is showing a good start for the participating airlines,” said Noredah.
Pre-pandemic, Kota Kinabalu was connected with three cities in South Korea, namely Seoul, Busan and Muan.
Previously, the Busan-Kota Kinabalu route was serviced by Air Busan and Eastar Jet.
Present at the KKIA to welcome the passengers are Noredah, Jin Air Kota Kinabalu branch manager Park Jeong Hoon, officials from Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airport Berhad officials.
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