South Korea’s transport ministry said Sunday it has agreed with its Mongolian counterpart to increase the number of flights connecting the two countries amid the rising demand.

Under the decision, South Korea will expand flight operations to include two additional airports in addition to the existing five locations, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The decision will allow the government to review requests from local airliners should they apply for requests to launch new flights from Jeju International Airport on the southern resort island of Jeju, and Yangyang International Airport in Yangyang, 150 kilometers northeast of Seoul.

South Korea and Mongolia decided to increase the number of flights departing from Gimhae International Airport near the southern port city of Busan as well, from the current six per week to nine.

They have also reached an agreement to remove the size limit for aircraft departing from regional airports, which had previously restricted seating capacity to 200.

For the peak season running from June to August, the two countries agreed to double the seats to at least 10,800 per week, from the previous 9,000.

While the two countries also discussed fully lifting the flight numbers, sources said they failed to reach an agreement as Mongolia expressed concerns over South Korean carriers dominating the market.

According to government data, the number of passengers between the two countries has recently increased significantly, from around 41,000 in 2021 to approximately 318,000 in 2022 and later to 653,000 last year.

Source: YONHAP