- 2021 Air Traffic Service Report is published… It will be accessible from the 13th on the website of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport -
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport published “2021 Air Traffic Service Report*”, which provides various information on air traffic service in just one report. From May 13th, anyone can access it on the website of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (www.molit.go.kr).
* (Air Traffic Service Report) The report has been published every year since 2014. It includes the reports on air traffic services accountable for the period between January 1st to December 31st of the year.
“2021 Air Traffic Service Report” contains information such as transportation performance, delay/cancellation rate, and status of damage relief receipt of national airlines. You can find the information you need before traveling on an airline whenever you need to select an airline.
In the “2021 Air Traffic Service Report 2021”, in order to implement a new standard for flight delay in 2023, the delay standard, which is the original standard that measures based on take-off and landing of the runway, was changed to the gate departure/arrival standard, and the results of a pilot survey on the delay rate of Incheon Airport were recorded. In the future, the investigation will be expanded to other airports as well.
* The runway take-off and landing standard states flights as delayed when domestic flights exceed 30 minutes and international flights 60 minutes. The gate departure and arrival standard states flights as delayed when both domestic and international flights exceed 15 minutes
In addition, important information of the airline's terms and conditions of carriage is also provided, which is a convenient information for passengers to have in advance.
The key points of “2021 Air Traffic Service Report 2021” are as follows.
1. Transportation performance
Last year, the number of air traffic service users was recorded to be a total of 36.36 million. 1.4 out of 2 Koreans travelled by airplanes, which is a decrease of 7.7% from the previous year and 70.5% from 2019. This is the lowest number in recent 10 years.
The number of domestic passengers reached the highest ever with 33.15 million, an increase of 31.7% from the previous year and 0.5% from 2019. On the other hand, the number of international passengers was 3.21 million, down 77.5% from the previous year and 96.4% from 2019.
Meanwhile, the passenger transport performance of large airlines increased by 12.1% and low cost carriers by 41.3% compared to the previous year. This is because low-cost carriers greatly expanded the number of seats supplied on domestic flights as the international flights sharply decreased.
(65.7 million in 2020 → 81.1 million in 2021)
2. On-time Information
[ Domestic Flight ]
In 2021, the on-time rate for domestic flights was 92.4%, the delay rate (more than 30 minutes) was 6.7%, and the cancellation rate was 0.9%.
The delay rate of the domestic flights increased by 2.3%p due to the increase in transportation performance (+31.7%) compared to the previous year. However, the number dropped by 5.0%p compared to 2019, which was analyzed to be the effect of less congestion in the airport due to the decrease in the number of international flights.
* (Delay rate) 2017 12.0% → 2018 13.4% → 2019 11.7% → 2020 4.4% → 2021 6.7%
In 2021, Fly Gangwon had the lowest delay rate at 1.6%, while Air Seoul recorded the highest delay rate at 13.2%.
The biggest reason for delays was connection daly for all airlines. However, the number has been decreasing according to the measures, established by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s TF for the aircraft delay improvement, aimed to decrease delays, such as intensive management of punctuality for first departure flights and securing flight spare time (1 hour).
* (Access) 2017 91.7% → 2018 90.5% → 2019 89.0% → 2020 80.4% → 2021 77.4%
A total of 3,521 domestic flights were canceled, an increase of 0.05%p compared to the previous year. The main reasons for the cancellation were first, the issue of weather and second, the issue of flight connection. of Air Premia, showed the lowest rate of cancellation* with 0.37%.
* Air Premia 0.37%, Jeju Air 0.54%, T'way Air 0.70%, Asiana Airlines 0.81%, Air Busan 0.87%, Korean Air 0.90%, Air Seoul 0.93%, Jin Air 1.34%, Aero K 1.90%, Fly Gangwon 2.30%
[ International Flight ]
In 2021, the on-time rate for international flight of national airlines was 97.3%, the delay rate (over 1 hour) was 2.7%, and the cancellation rate was 0.07%. The on-time rate for international flights of foreign airlines was 96.3%, the delay rate was 3.5%, and the cancellation rate was 0.21%.
In the case of domestic airlines, the overall delay rate of all airlines showed no change compared to 2020.
Although the delay rate of low-cost carriers has increased, most of the international flights are offered by large airlines (92.7%). Consequently, it had little effect. As the congestion rate at Incheon International Airport decreased due to the decrease in the number of international flights, the delay rate of major airlines improved.
Among 8 foreign airlines that offered more than 500 flights in 2021, Singapore Airlines had the lowest (0.8%) rate and Delta Air Lines the highest (3.8%).
Air Seoul had the highest rate of international flight cancellations among domestic airlines at 1.45%. However, even though it recorded the high cancellation rate, all cancellations were caused due to the weather issues.
As for foreign airlines, among the eight foreign airlines that operated more than 500 flights in 2021, Delta Air Lines had the highest rate with 0.27%.
[ Incheon Airport Delay Time Measurement ]
In 2021, in order to investigate the international delay standard which is to be implemented in the future, the delay measurement standard was changed from the existing standard based on the runway take-off/landing to the gate departure/arrival standard, and the change in the delay rate at Incheon Airport was analyzed.
* The runway take-off and landing standard defines the flight as a delayed flight when domestic flights exceed 30 minutes of the set time, and for international flights, 60 minutes. The gate departure and arrival standard define a flight as a delayed flight when the flight exceeds 15 minutes of its set time for both domestic and international flights.
The international departure delay rate* based on the current runway take-off/landing standard was 2.1%. However, with the new standard, which is the gate departure/arrival standard (delayed more than 15 minutes), the rate became slightly higher at 4.6%.
* Percentage of flights delayed by more than 60 minutes
In detail, many flights take off within 15 to 60 minutes. The change in delay rate is affected by the wait time for taxi and take-off, which happens after departing the gate. Therefore, measures are required to improve this.
3. Information on Application Procedure of User Damage
In 2021, the number of air-related damage relief applications received by the Korea Consumer Agency was 484, which is a decrease of about 81% compared to the previous year. This is because the overall number of flights and the number of passengers has decreased due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation.
By type of damage, most cases were cancellation of ticket contracts and requests for refund caused by the prolonged pandemic. The highest number of cases was recorded by cancellation and refund penalties, which was 407 damage cases (84.1%). The second highest number of cases was recorded by damages from delays and cancellations, which was 30 cases (6.2%).
More specifically, as the responses from the foreign airlines were delayed and insufficient since the COVID-19 breakout, the converted number of damage relief applications for domestic airlines per million users is 3.3 cases. On the other hand, 187.0 cases were recorded for foreign airlines.
Among domestic airlines, T'way Air had the highest number of claims for damage relief per million passengers with 4.8 cases, and Jeju Air recorded the lowest number with 1.5 cases.
Inquiries or complaints regarding damage caused when flying can be made through various channels such as airlines, Korea Consumer Agency (☏1372), Airport Corporation, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Damage relief can be obtained through mutual agreement with airlines, consumer dispute resolution standards of the Korea Consumer Agency, etc.
Ji-young Shim, the head of the Aviation Industry Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “As demand for air travel is gradually increasing due to the gradual recovery of people’s regular lifestyles, we hope that “2021 Air Traffic Service Report” will be of a help to air traffic users when choosing an airline.”
"We will continue to promote policies that focus on improving services for air traffic users including improving the punctuality of airlines, providing information better for when users have to use air services, and providing information on services in a timely manner." she said.
Please refer to the attached PDF.