S.Korea's Fly Gangwon kicks off international air cargo service

Fly Gangwon, a South Korean low-cost carrier, announced on Monday the launch of its international air cargo transportation service on the Taipei route using its Airbus A330-200 aircraft, with Yangyang International Airport as its home airport. This service will commence the next day.

Fly Gangwon introduced the A330-200 model last November and obtained a safety system change permit from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in February this year. To prepare for international flights, the airline has been operating the Yangyang-Jeju route twice a day since Feb. 14.

The A330-200 is a mid- to large-sized aircraft with 260 seats and a cargo compartment capacity of over 20 tons.

The Taipei route had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic but resumed operations last December with a Boeing B737-800 aircraft. Fly Gangwon replaced the aircraft on the same route with an A330-200 on Mar. 1 and plans to commence operations on the Yangyang-Hanoi (Vietnam) route from Mar. 18, operating three flights a week.

"Despite the skepticism toward air cargo transportation service from a regional airport, we have been steadily preparing for the cargo transportation business for a year and plan to introduce additional cargo planes for full-scale cargo transportation service this year," said a Fly Gangwon official. "We expect it to be of great help in revitalizing the regional logistics market and generating profits for us."

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com