Aero K flight RF6061 from Jeju to Cheongju (25 March 2021)
Aero K Airlines Co., Ltd. (Korean: 에어로케이), originally named K-AIR Aviation, is a South Korean low-cost airline founded in 2016. They obtained their Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) on 28 December 2020 and the company received their first Airbus A320-200, registered as HL8384, on 14 February 2021.
Branded as Aero_K, the name is a heteropalindrome — spelling “Korea” backwards.
Aero K has a very interesting brand story and identity. When it first launched, the airline paraded its cabin crew uniform to champion counterstereotypes. It moved away from the beauty pageant-esque commodification of staff and opted for a gender neutral uniform that puts practicality and safety above appearance.
Image credit: @aerok.official
In what is a rather image-conscious society, this garnered a lot of positive reactions from netizens who found the concept refreshing and inclusive. The “젠더리스” (genderless) less-than-formal image looks a lot like Scoot, but the brand identity is a tad less jarring without the overt use of orange/yellow.
Given the hype over its launch, I decided to fly with this airline on 25 March 2021, which was about a month after it started operations.
Booking
With the airline based in the city of Cheongju, the airline commenced its operations with their first route to Jeju in February 2021. While the airline now has its reservations portal on its website, in the first few days of its operation they did not have that working and so had to sell their tickets via a Korean online shopping mall (similar to Taobao or Shopee!) called TMON!
Booking in this manner required a Korean mobile phone number, and I was able to complete it through the TMON portal. After selecting flight RF6061 on 25 March 2021, I paid KRW14,100 after receiving a KRW3,000 discount. It was a good price considering that the booking was made only two days before the flight!
This was a very interesting way of booking a ticket. The TMON site somewhat functioned as an online travel agent, but there was no booking reference or PNR in the receipt, so as a result online check-in was not possible for this flight. The only way to select your seats was to request it when checking in for the flight.
Checking in for the flight at Jeju Airport
I arrived at the domestic departures check-in hall of Jeju Airport about two hours before departure but the counters had yet to open. The airline was using counters 36 and 37 at the airport for this flight, which is next to the FlyGangwon counter.
The airline enforces a strict weight limit of 8kg for hand-carry luggage. Check-in counters finally opened about an hour and a half prior to departure time.
As of May 2024, FlyGangwon and Hi Air have both ceased operations. Korea’s airline industry is incredibly competitive, and low cost carriers created downward pricing pressure on fares for domestic routes. Most of the flights at Jeju were to/from Seoul’s Gimpo Airport.
Because the airline had only commenced operations a few days before, I was under the assumption that the flight would be very lightly loaded, and I was proven correct when I checked the loads with the check-in staff. The check-in counters close twenty minutes before flight departure – this demonstrates just how efficient ground handling can sort baggages and check-in procedures at Jeju.
I was assigned seat 12A, an emergency exit row window seat for the flight RF6061, which was to depart from gate 3A at Jeju Airport.
As mentioned in a previous article, Korea has the world’s busiest air route (Seoul-Gimpo to Jeju) in terms of seat capacity and frequency, and just a few years ago Korean Air even flew their Boeing 747-400s on the one-hour long flight. Airlines and ground service handlers at both airports have become so efficient and streamlined their processes to accommodate this operation. It is truly an extraordinary feat.
Click below to read another article on our site on an unusual Seoul-Incheon to Jeju flight!
Due to the incredible number of domestic flights at Jeju, there are insufficient gates with aerobridges so remote stands are widely used at the airport. Passengers are bussed to/from the plane.
The Aero K plane that I was to board had parked at a remote bay.
Boarding the plane
The plane was lightly loaded for this flight. Most of the passengers seemed to be young students in uniform from a regional flight/aviation academy, and could possibly be crew-in-training.
Boarding commenced at 01:00PM sharp, and the gate closed at 01:10PM, which was ten minutes prior to scheduled departure time.
Passengers were led down to the bus for a short ride across the tarmac.
This granted great views of tarmac action at Jeju Airport.
The flight is operated by an Airbus A320-200 with registration HL8384. This plane features 180 seats in an all-economy configuration, and was previously operated by Virgin America and Alaska Airlines before being delivered to Aero K in 2020. The livery is quite unique, as it is different on both sides of the plane.
This was an all-economy 180-seater Airbus A320-200, which is rather standard for low cost carriers.
Emergency exit rows grant a tad more legroom. This plane was retrofitted with new seats following its transfer from the previous operator. These slimline seats do not recline and are increasingly found on many low cost carriers.
Legroom was comfortable in the emergency exit row, but much tighter in the regular seats.
Seatback literature consisted of a safety briefing card, Aero K promotional material, and a brochure detailing safe distancing measures for travel during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The safety briefing card had instructions in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English.
None of the other emergency exit row seats were occupied, so one of the stewardesses approached me prior to takeoff. She requested that I read the safety instructions carefully and understand how to operate the exit hatch in case of an emergency landing.
As there are no seatback monitor screens, the safety demonstration were conducted manually by the cabin crew as the plane pushed back from the remote bay. Instructions were given in both Korean and English.
Departing Jeju
A quick taxi to the active runway meant that we were jetting out of Jeju in a jiffy.
The flight path out of Jeju had us headed north over the waters separating Jeju island and mainland Korea.
It was upon departure that I took notice of the boarding pass. Apparently it was printed on FlyGangwon ticket stock! I am assuming that they use the same ground handler at Jeju Airport.
Without any inflight entertainment, one can only look out of the window to pass time. Or bring your own mobile device to watch a movie. Then again, this is only an hour-long flight.
The small tray table could be extended, which was quite useful given the longer legroom for this seat. However, there is no inflight service for this flight as Aero K is a low cost carrier.
Aero K collaborated with Sunwoo Jung-a, a musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer who has worked with numerous Korean artists including IU, Suran, GD & TOP, 2NE1, Lee Haeri, Lee Hi, and San E. Her music is played upon departure and landing.
Right after takeoff, the stewardess came around with a “safe journey kit”, which is a sealed pouch comprising a face mask and hand sanitiser.
There was a fair bit of turbulence on this flight so when it cleared and the seatbelt sign was turned off, I took the chance to head to the lavatory.
It was a bog standard lavatory stocked with toilet paper and soap. Nothing extraordinary here.
After heading back to my seat, we were on final approach to Cheongju Airport.
Landing in Cheongju
Cheongju Airport serves the cities of Cheongju, Sejong, and Daejeon, as well as other smaller towns in the North Chungcheong Province.
After touchdown, the plane taxied to a remote bay at the airport, where ground crew proceeded to attach airstairs to door L1 of the plane. Disembarkation then took place promptly with all passengers walking a short distance to the terminal building.
Aero K is apparently handled by Swissport at Cheongju Airport.
Passengers with checked baggage had to collect their bags from belt 1. As I had no luggage, I proceeded straight out to the public area.
There is a railway station next to the airport, called Cheongju Airport station, which is on the Chungbuk Line. But as I needed to head to Seoul, I boarded an express bus to Seoul’s Central City Terminal which departed right outside the airport passenger terminal building.
As of May 2024, Aero K has since grown its fleet and operates from Cheongju to international destinations in Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. In 2024, it will also operate internationally out of Incheon Airport, which should see it competing directly with other established low cost carriers for the massive outbound market from the Seoul Capital Area.
Korea’s aviation market is increasingly fractured with the development (and demise) of numerous low cost carriers, so it is interesting to see how new entrants like Aero K can carve out their niche. It has a very unique concept, and hopefully the airline can grow sustainably over the coming years ahead.
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