During the summer high season, visitors to the island number around fifty thousand a day. With the number of travelers continuously on the rise, Jeju faces more traffic congestion on the ground and growing complaints of frequent flight delays. Joseph Kim explains.
The number of inbound travelers has hit 50,000 a day, and the number of flights to accommodate the additional volume has also increased.

During the first half of this year, flights numbered 84,000. A 10% increase from 2015.
On average, there have been 460 daily flights to and from Jeju and due to the heavier air traffic, delays have increased dramatically.

[Slug] 17,000 flights were delayed in the first half of this year
Around 20,000 flights were delayed last year

Around 17,800 flights were delayed in the first half of this year. That is double compared to 2015. This averages to 1 in 5 flights being delayed.


I departed from Gimpo airport and almost all flights were delayed. Not only my flight but I believe the flight in front of it was also delayed.
<인터뷰 : 박하은/관광객>
"김포에서 왔는데 거의 다 지연됐어요. 저희뿐 아니라 앞 편도 지연됐고
조금씩 다 늦어지는 것 같아요."

One delayed flight creates a domino effect, causing other flight delays. It has been estimated that 96% of delays were caused by an earlier delay.

The number of tourists has soared over the past few years, but takeoff and landing facilities haven't been expanded.


Slots are almost completely full at the Jeju International Airport and it creates a bottleneck effect that’s causing the consecutive delays.
<인터뷰 : 항공사 관계자>
"제주공항 시설 환경상 슬롯이 포화되고 하늘길이 막히다 보니까 지연이 늘 수밖에 없어요."

[REPORTER] Joseph Kim, [Camera] Kim Seung-cheol

The more visitors, the more air traffic congestion.
With summer peak season just getting underway, it looks like Jeju’s air traffic will only get worse.
Joseph Kim, KCTV