Jeju Air revealed that up to 68,000 flight bookings had been canceled as of 1 p.m. on December 30 (Korean time).
Of the tens of thousands of canceled tickets, more than 33,000 were for domestic flights, while 34,000 were for international routes, Yonhap news agency reported.
According to Money Today, a tourist shared on a Korean travel forum that she canceled her Jeju Air flight to Da Nang, because the airline had a free cancellation policy until March 29 next year.
“I plan to use another airline or decide to re-select my travel destination,” he shared.
Another person responded: “I booked a ticket with Jeju Air to Nha Trang in March next year, but I canceled it out of worry and changed to Air Seoul.”
“I canceled my Jeju Air flight departing next Tuesday,” said one person who decided to cancel his ticket as soon as he read the news about the accident.
Jeju Air said most of the cancellation requests were made after 9 a.m. on December 29, when its flight 7C2216 carrying 181 people crashed at Muan International Airport in the southwestern county of Muan.
Local travel agencies have also reported a surge in tour cancellations following the tragedy. Many travel businesses have suspended online and television advertising and promotional campaigns.
“We received about 40 inquiries about cancellations on Sunday alone. Cancellations are about double the usual number and bookings are down 50%,” said a travel agent who requested anonymity.
Industry sources said the South Korean tourism industry is closely monitoring the situation, anticipating further impact as public concerns over aviation safety continue to grow.
Meanwhile, another Jeju Air flight taking off in South Korea today (December 30) had to make an emergency landing minutes after departure due to a similar landing gear problem discovered in a fatal accident on December 29. Notably, this flight used the same type of Boeing aircraft in the previous fatal accident.
Jeju Air Flight 7C101, departing from Gimpo International Airport to Jeju at 6:37 a.m. on December 30, discovered a problem with its landing gear after takeoff.
The airline informed 161 passengers about the error and then asked the pilot to return the plane to Gimpo at 7:25 a.m.
