Jeju Airport Guide: Home of the World’s Busiest Route
Jeju Airport serves Korea's holiday island and anchors the busiest air route on earth to Seoul. Read about its runways, airlines, access and spotting.
By The Aviation Hub
7 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Jeju International Airport is the gateway to South Korea’s holiday island and the anchor of the busiest air route in the world. It sits on the north coast of Jeju Island, barely 2 miles (4 km) west of the Jeju City centre, squeezed between the sea and the volcanic slopes of Hallasan. Around 29 million passengers used Jeju Airport in 2023, almost all of them flying to and from the Korean mainland. Two runways, one terminal complex and a non stop stream of Boeing 737s and Airbus A321s make it a field of remarkable intensity for its size.
Jeju Airport at a Glance
The codes are CJU and RKPC. The airport lies at 118 ft (36 m) above sea level on reclaimed and levelled ground beside the Yellow Sea, 2 miles (4 km) from the city centre and about 280 miles (450 km) south of Seoul. Hallasan, a 1,950 m shield volcano, rises directly behind the field.
Jeju Airport has two runways and a single terminal with domestic and international wings. Traffic was 29.1 million in 2023 and peaked at 31.3 million in 2019, against a design capacity of 26 million. Korean Air and Asiana treat the island as a focus city, and Jeju Air, Jin Air and Eastar Jet all have bases. Jeju Air, the country’s largest low cost carrier, takes its name from the island and calls the airport home. The state owned Korea Airports Corporation operates the field. Flight details are on the airport’s official website.
How Jeju’s Airport Came to Be
Japanese forces built the first airstrip on the site during the Second World War, when Jeju was a fortified outpost. Korean National Airlines began civil flights after the war, and the field was formally established as Jeju International Airport on 26 April 1968, taking its name from the island and the city. For its first two decades it was a small domestic airport with a handful of daily flights.
Tourism changed everything. Jeju became the honeymoon island of South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Gimpo route grew into a shuttle service. The main runway was extended in stages to 3,180 m to take wide body aircraft. A new passenger terminal and an international wing arrived in the 2000s as Chinese and Japanese visitors began to arrive in numbers.
Low cost carriers drove the final surge. Jeju Air began flying in 2006 with flights from this airport, and the mainland routes exploded as Jin Air, T’way, Eastar and Air Busan piled in. Passenger numbers passed 30 million in 2019, far beyond the design limit. A 1994 Korean Air Airbus A300 overran the runway on landing, with all 160 aboard surviving.
Runways at Jeju Airport
Runway 07/25 is the main strip, 3,180 m (10,433 ft) long and 45 m (148 ft) wide, running roughly east to west along the shoreline. Nearly every commercial movement uses it. The length handles the Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A330 types that Korean Air and Asiana deploy on the Seoul shuttle at peak times, which makes Jeju one of the few places in the world where wide bodies fly a 50 minute domestic sector.
Runway 13/31 crosses it at 1,910 m (6,268 ft) and the same width. It is a short crosswind strip used mainly by turboprops, light aircraft and the coastguard, and in strong northerly or southerly winds. Both runways are asphalt. The volcano rises to the south, and approaches to the main runway come in over the sea and the shoreline.
Wind is the constant problem. Jeju sits in the path of typhoons and takes fierce winter gales, and wind shear warnings close the airport several times a year. When that happens tens of thousands of passengers are stranded on the island, because the ferry alternative is slow. Jeju Airport handles around 460 movements a day on effectively a single runway, so recovery after closures takes time.
Terminals and Airlines
The terminal at Jeju Airport is a single long building with a large domestic wing and a smaller international wing. The domestic side is one of the busiest in Asia by passenger throughput, with check in halls for Korean Air, Asiana, Jeju Air, Jin Air, T’way Air, Eastar Jet, Air Busan and Air Seoul. Security queues at holiday weekends are legendary, and the airport has added lanes and self service kiosks to cope.
The international wing handles flights to China, Japan, Taiwan and South East Asia. China Eastern, Spring Airlines, Juneyao Air, Tigerair Taiwan and the Korean low cost carriers are the main users.
Korean Air has taken over Asiana, and the combined group will reshape the domestic market here, with Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul due to be consolidated under the Jin Air name.
Routes and Destinations
Seoul Gimpo is the route that defines the airport. It carried around 15.3 million passengers in 2024, up from more than 13.7 million in 2023, and is regularly ranked as the busiest airline route in the world. Flights leave every few minutes from early morning until late evening, operated by every Korean airline with everything from the 737 to the 777. Busan follows at around 3.5 million passengers, with Cheongju, Daegu, Gwangju and Seoul Incheon also busy.
International traffic is a small fraction of the whole. Shanghai Pudong is the busiest foreign route at around 840,000 passengers in 2024, followed by Taipei, Hangzhou, Beijing Daxing and Nanjing. Osaka, Tokyo and Singapore also appear on the schedule. There is no long haul service. Visitor numbers peak in summer, over the autumn holidays and during the spring canola bloom.
Getting to and from Jeju Airport
Jeju has no railway, so every journey starts on the road. The city centre is a 10 to 15 minute taxi ride for around 6,000 to 8,000 won (£3.50 to £4.50), and taxis queue in large numbers outside arrivals. Kakao T ride hailing works well.
The cheapest sensible option is the bus. Routes 600 and 800 series airport limousines run to the Jungmun resort area and Seogwipo on the south coast in 60 to 90 minutes for a few thousand won, and city buses serve the Jeju City bus terminal and the coast roads. Most visitors hire a car at the row of rental desks and shuttle lots beside the terminal, since the island has no rail and the sights are spread out.
Short term parking sits in front of the terminal and fills quickly on holiday weekends. Jeju Airport is 2 miles (4 km) from the ferry port, which offers a slow alternative to the mainland when flights are grounded.
Spotting and Photography
Jeju Airport is a fine spotting location. The main reason is Yongduam, the Dragon Head Rock, a volcanic outcrop on the coast a short walk east of the airport that sits under the approach to runway 25. Aircraft pass low over the sea with the rock in the foreground, and the spot is popular with tourists and photographers alike. The coastal path west of the airport gives the reverse view for arrivals on runway 07.
The gate windows face the apron and the main runway, with the constant procession of 737s and A321s. Morning light favours the eastern coastal spots and afternoon light the west. Winter gales bring dramatic crosswind landings, and summer haze is lighter here than on the mainland.
Spotting is accepted in Korea, but the coastguard and air force share the field. Stay on the public coastal paths, keep out of the fishing harbour works and do not use drones anywhere near the airport.
What Comes Next
The airport is full. A plan for a second airport near Seogwipo was approved in 2019 and then cancelled in 2021 over groundwater and wildlife concerns. A revised US$5.1 billion project won provisional approval in 2023, but the completion date remains open and local opposition is strong. In the meantime Korea Airports Corporation is squeezing more capacity from the existing terminal with new gates and faster security.
Runway capacity is the hard limit. With one usable runway and a volcano on one side, Jeju Airport cannot grow much beyond its current movements, and the merged Korean Air group may thin out frequencies in favour of larger aircraft.
Jeju Airport is a small island field doing the work of a major hub, and its second airport cannot come soon enough. See how it ranks beside the other Asian gateways on the Airports of the World map.
Continue to follow The Aviation Hub for more analysis and insight.
Advertise with us Your brand, in front of an aviation audience Home page and in-article placements, sold directly, one advertiser per slot. From £250 a year. See the rates
