Low-cost carriers will continue to drive capacity growth in the Korean flight industry, which has expanded into the largest market in Northeast Asia, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing said Monday. 

According to Boeing, more than 70 percent of new Northeast Asian flight routes in the past three years were established by Korean LCCs.

“LCCs are currently responsible for some 215 flight routes in Northeast Asia including Korea, Japan and Taiwan, which is nearly double what we saw in 2015,” said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing commercial airplanes. 

“Korean LCCs continue to drive growth in this market and now make up nearly 40 percent of passenger capacity in Korea,” he added. 

With LCCs powering growth in Korea, Boeing said traffic in the Northeast Asia region was expected to increase 2 percent annually for the next 20 years. 

Such growth will generate the need for 1,450 new airplanes, valued at $310 billion, and will result in a total fleet size of 1,600 airplanes for the region by 2037, the company said. 

“Due to the maturity of the market environment here in Northeast Asia and especially in Korea, a much higher percentage of new airplanes will be used for replacement,” said Tinseth. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)