While the most popular Summer vacation spot was Haeundae Beach on the South-Eastern tip of the Peninsula, Jeju was always the cooler destination as it was just about the only tropical island large enough to handle herds of tourists and larger hotels . but it was expensive to fly, so some even brought their own cars on ferries from inCheon or Mokpo .
creation of discount airlines in Korea too changed all that – although some were mere subsidiaries of the same larger airline companies . most fly to Jeju and South-East Asia . the cheapest are in-bound morning and out-bound evening flights (just the opposite of normal vacationers) from GimPo, the older international-now-turned-domestic Aiport costing even an incredible W20,000 !!!
- t’way Air (began August 2005) with messy legal proceeding in the beginning, also flies to neighboring Japan, China and Saipan/Guam – but does not offer mileage .
- Jeju Air (began June 2006) with joint-investment from Jeju administration itself and AeKyung Group familiar with toiletry products, also flies to Japan and Saipan/Guam – seats selectable On-Line .
- Jin Air (began July 2008) is a subsidiary of Korean Airlines and also flies to neighboring Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Guam and even Hawaii ~
- Air Busan (began October 2008) owned by Busan City administration and Asiana Airlines, also flies to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Guam .
- Eastar Air (began January 2009) owned by a series of companies whose name change thus not worthy of mention, also flies to Taiwan and Hong Kong but has no On-Line seat designation system yet .
First flight out of GimPo Airport is around 6:30am, for about an hour’s joyous flight . then the last flight out of Jeju would be 8:30 / 9:30pm depending on your airline . the earlier and latter flights are quite crumbled in schedule, so expect mass panic at check-in and departure clearance !
– Beginning of Summer 2016, Jeju isle dot com –
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