South Korea: Airlines have high hopes after gov't lifts travel quarantine measures

The airline industry's hopes are rising as the government announced eased mandatory quarantine measures for overseas travel, Friday. Starting on March 21, those who have completed vaccination in Korea and abroad and registered their vaccination history on the COOV application will be exempt from mandatory quarantine. The current compulsory seven-day quarantine on all overseas arrivals will be scrapped. Hit hard by the prolonged pandemic, airlines expect the lifting of the mandatory quarantine measures to result in an increase in passengers. "Currently, close to 90% of our international flights have been grounded, but the easing of the quarantine measures will likely help a resumption of the flights," a major airline official said. The airline industry is anticipating a recovery in passenger demand as the prolonged pandemic pulled down their earnings. Jeju Air suffered an operating loss of 323.4b won ($262.1m) last year, Jin Air 194.2b won, T'way Air 157b won and Air Busan 204.3b won. Korean Air, the country's leading airline, was able to achieve an annual surplus thanks to its cargo business, but its passenger operations were sluggish. Last year, the passenger business achieved sales of 1.83t won, which was down 86.05% compared to 2019, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, starting next month, those who have been vaccinated abroad and have not registered their vaccination history will also be exempt from the quarantine obligation. In other words, as long as vaccinations have been completed, oversea travelers will not have to be quarantined, which is expected to increase travel demand.<br/>