On July 5, 2024, Okayama Prefecture and the operator of Seoul’s main international gateway Incheon International Airport Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding in which the two agreed to cooperate on working together to increase the usage of the Okayama – Seoul Incheon route.
As part of the MoU, the two parties agreed to:
- Jointly promote of the usage of the Okayama – Seoul route including by transit passengers
- Support travel companies in offering tours that involve the use of the route including by transit passengers
- Provide information about Okayama and Incheon Airport to the general public
- Exchange information related to promoting tourism, as well as the usage of passenger and cargo air transport
- Cooperate on other activities that will help promote the Okayama – Seoul route
Currently, Korean Air offers three weekly flights on the route, however, it plans to increase the frequency to five weekly from August 3, 2024.
The passenger numbers on the route are currently in the process of recovering from the pandemic. According to Okayama Prefecture, in fiscal 2018, 100,799 (72.6% load factor) passengers traveled on the route while in fiscal 2019 the number dropped to 70,021 (64.8% load factor) passengers. The route was suspended between fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2022, and in fiscal 2023, 16,764 (72.9% load factor) passengers traveled on the route.
