Three guesses. What do you reckon is the busiest passenger air route in the world? London to New York? Dubai to Beijing? Sydney to Melbourne? Not even close. The answer is between two airports you probably have not heard of: Gimpo, Seoul’s second hub, and Jeju, an island off the coast of South Korea.
The distance is unremarkable, coming in at around 280 miles. But the demand is unmistakable once you step foot in the airport. The departure screens appear broken - every five minutes, there is a flight to the same destination. You can fly Korean air, as I did, on one of the many low-cost airlines that service the route.
In 2023, it saw nearly 14 million passengers, with an average of 225 flights per day. This is no aberration. Seoul to Jeju has held the top spot for a decade. The obvious question is why? What explains the popularity of this route?
Well, the obvious answer is that Jeu is delightful. Stunning scenery, arresting waterfalls, some even come to see the location from popular Korean soap operas. It does not take long to understand why Jeju is considered the Hawaii of Korea. Unlike the second most popular route, Tokyo to Sapporo, Jeju is all about tourism, welcoming more than 13 million people last year, largely domestic travellers. If there were a sub-tropical island an hour’s flight south of London, my assumption is that would be a popular route too.
Of course, there are also wider geopolitical reasons. Britain doesn’t need its own Jeju (though I certainly wouldn’t say no to one) because it has Europe right there. Korea is by no means isolated, and it is wealthier than us too. But short haul destinations are largely limited to China, Russia and Japan, with whom Seoul has complicated relations.
I don’t know why it fascinated me so much. This island I hitherto hadn’t heard of, being the busiest air route in the world. To be fair, I am, to put it mildly, an aviation geek. But it also a serves as reminder that my parents were right. The world really doesn’t revolve around me. It ismore of a travelator, ferrying passengers between Seoul and Jeju.
