South Korea outlines broad-based support for aviation industry

The South Korean government has outlined broad measures to support and eventually revitalise the local aviation industry. For airlines, these are focused on capturing synergies. The retrieval of unused airport slots and allocated routes will be temporarily suspended, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) says in a Wednesday statement. “In addition, airport slots that are not in use by foreign airlines will be temporarily allocated to domestic flights of [local] airlines to expand business opportunities,” it adds. South Korea’s aviation laws require airlines to service allocated routes for at least 20 weeks per year, and utilise 80% of airport slots each season. Meanwhile, permissions for cargo operations will also be expedited, from three days currently to same-day clearance. To achieve this, airlines will conduct their own risk assessment and post-operations, submit a report detailing evidence of risk-reduction measures. This process will be actively managed by the authorities, says MOLIT.<br/>