South Korea and China agree to expand traffic rights

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) reached (04-Jun-2026) an agreement with China's Government to increase the number of South Korea-China frequencies that airlines are permitted to operate from 662 to 732 per week. This is the first expansion of traffic rights between the countries since 2019. Details include:

• Cargo: Airlines permitted to operate 14 additional cargo frequencies per week, increasing from 54 to 68 per week;
• Passenger: Airlines permitted to operate 56 additional passenger frequencies per week, increasing from 608 to 664 per week;
• Passenger routes:
  • Seoul Incheon-Beijing: Increase from 45 to 52 frequencies per week;
  • Seoul Incheon-Shanghai: Increase from 56 to 63 frequencies per week;
  • Seoul Incheon-Guangzhou: Increase from 21 to 28 frequencies per week;
  • Seoul Incheon-Dalian: Increase from 21 to 28 frequencies per week;
  • Seoul Incheon-Chengdu: Increase from 14 to 21 frequencies per week;
  • Seoul Incheon-Harbin: Increase from 14 to 21 frequencies per week;
  • Regional destinations in South Korea to destinations excluding Beijing and Shanghai in China: Increase from 87 to 101 frequencies per week.

MOLIT noted passenger traffic between South Korea and China reached 4.4 million in 1Q2026, exceeding 1Q2019 levels of 4.1 million passengers. [more - original PR - Korean]