Jeju International Airport

Jeju International Airport on Jeju Island serves the southern end of what is statistically the busiest airline route in the world: the Seoul Gimpo (GMP) to Jeju (CJU) city pair handles more than 14M passengers annually on one of the shortest major scheduled routes globally, with flights departing in some instances more than 90 times a day in each direction. That single route alone makes Jeju one of Asia's busiest airports by movements despite the island's modest resident population of approximately 670,000. CJU is Korea's primary domestic leisure airport and the aerial anchor of a tourism-based island economy built around Jeju's UNESCO-listed volcanic landscapes, crater lakes, and lava tubes. Two runways — 3,180 m (10,433 ft) primary and 1,910 m (6,268 ft) crosswind — and a terminal split into domestic and international concourses handle approximately 70 routes to 30 destinations across 20 airlines. Korean Air, Asiana, Jeju Air (the Jeju-based LCC that emerged from the island's aviation industry initiative), T'way, Jin Air, Air Busan, Air Seoul, Eastar Jet, and Aero K all operate major schedules. International service covers Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Mongolia — a footprint that reflects Jeju's historical role as a visa-free entry point for Chinese tourists (subject to periodic policy fluctuation). The airport sits on the north coast of the island just west of Jeju City, and its single-runway configuration and rapidly growing traffic have prompted repeated proposals for a second Jeju airport — a politically contentious project still in the planning phase. Passenger traffic reached approximately 29M in 2023, making CJU Korea's second-busiest airport after Incheon and substantially ahead of Gimpo.