China and South Korea will allow 70 more flights per week between the two countries in view of fast-growing, two-way tourism and a drop in Chinese group travel to Japan.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Seoul said in a statement Thursday that passenger flight capacity would grow from 608 to 664 per week and that maximum air freight flights would expand from 54 to 68 per week.
These expansions, the first since before the Covid pandemic, reflect a surge in two-way tourism, analysts said.
In the first quarter of 2026, China led inbound travel to Korea with 1.4 million visitors, ahead of pre-pandemic numbers, the Korean travel research institute Yanolja found.
Some 2.66 million South Koreans visited China in the same quarter, up 24.1 per cent year on year, according to Chinese media reports.
This year Seoul eased its rules for 10-year visas for Chinese nationals, while Koreans may visit China visa-free.
