Last year, one out of four national airline aircraft departed or arrived later than scheduled in South Korea. For international flights, Air Seoul had the highest delay rate.
On Monday, Democratic Party Ahn Tae-jun, a member of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Committee, received data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of Korea. The data showed that the average delay rate of domestic and international flights by 10 domestic airlines last year was 25.7%.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport considers a flight delayed if it departs from or arrives at the gate more than 15 minutes past the scheduled time indicated on the flight ticket.
Out of 678,489 total flights operated last year in Korea, 174,078 experienced delays. The delay rate for domestic flights was 22.2%, while international flights had a higher rate of 29.8%.
Last year, the annual delay rate increased by 2.1% compared to 2023, which had a rate of 23.6%. Domestic flights decreased by 1.5%, but international flights increased by 6.5%.
The increase in the delay rate of international flights was attributed to increased international flights and restrictions on certain international routes last year.
Air Seoul had the highest delay rate for international flights at 46.6%, followed by Eastar Jet at 38% and Jin Air at 35.4%. Air Busan had the lowest delay rate at 17.3%.
For domestic flights, T’way Air had the highest delay rate, 31.3%, closely followed by Air Seoul, at 31%. Asiana Airlines had the lowest delay rate, 17.2%.