Jin Air

Jin Air (진에어, IATA code LJ) is the low-cost airline of Korean Air. It is headquartered in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, and is listed on the Korea Exchange. Its hubs are Seoul's Gimpo and Incheon airports, with Busan and Jeju as focus cities. As of October 2026 it is preparing to absorb Air Busan and Air Seoul, the two low-cost airlines that came into the same group when Korean Air took over Asiana Airlines.

History

Jin Air was founded on 23 January 2008, and the name was announced at an opening ceremony in Seoul on 15 June that year. Its first flight, from Gimpo to Jeju on a Boeing 737-800, was on 17 July 2008. Scheduled international flying began with Incheon–Bangkok in December 2009, and cargo services followed in November 2013. In December 2015 it opened Incheon–Honolulu, its first long-haul route, using Boeing 777-200ER wide-bodies taken over from Korean Air; Wikipedia describes it as Korea's first low-cost airline to fly wide-bodies. The Honolulu route has since ended. The shares were listed in an initial public offering on 8 December 2017.

Merger with Air Busan and Air Seoul

Plans to combine Korean Air's and Asiana's low-cost airlines under the Jin Air name were reported in December 2024. As a first step, Jin Air and Air Busan began a domestic codeshare in January 2026.

Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul signed a merger agreement on 21 August 2026, after each airline's board approved it the same day. Jin Air is the surviving company and will take over the other two airlines' assets, liabilities, employees and legal status. The combined airline, referred to as the "integrated Jin Air", is planned to launch on 17 March 2027. At the time of signing, the remaining steps were shareholder votes at extraordinary meetings planned for December 2026, approval under South Korea's aviation law, an inspection by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and approvals from foreign aviation authorities. On 7 October 2026 Jin Air said Vietnam's competition authority had given its final approval; clearance from Korea's Fair Trade Commission and the transport ministry was still to come.

Network

As of August 2026 Wikipedia listed 45 destinations. Besides domestic Korean routes, Jin Air flies to Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South-East Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Laos), Guam and Mongolia. Routes added or announced in 2026 include Incheon–Kobe, Incheon–Guilin, Yantai and Yichang. It codeshares with Korean Air, Air Busan and Jetstar.

Fleet and cabin

A Wikipedia fleet table dated August 2026 lists 31 aircraft: 19 Boeing 737-800s, three 737-900s, five 737 MAX 8s, three 777-200ERs and one Airbus A321-200 taken over from Asiana Airlines in 2026. Ten Airbus A321neos are on order. The 777-200ERs and 737-900s have a business-class section, and Jin Air also markets a business product, JINI BIZ, which it introduced on Gimpo–Jeju and Gimpo–Busan in December 2021.