BACKGROUND
In this part I’ll be flying on the Airbus A330-300 for a very short flight from Jeju to Busan.

Having not slept well the night before I left the accommodation in Jeju City at 7am and walked all the way along the coast to the airport which took a couple of hours. Jeju’s airport is located in a very scenic location right on the coast which gives you great views on approach or when departing the airport.

The airport itself is the second busiest in Korea and is more modern and larger with far more facilities than the domestic terminals of Busan and Gimpo. As well as flights across Korea, there are also a significant number of flights to mainland China, Hong Kong as well as a few to Japan.
Unlike last time I was able to check in at the machines and within no time at all I had printed off my boarding pass. Not having too long until boarding commenced I decided to head straight through security. At Jeju, all foreigners also have to go through a passport check too (I think this is because Jeju is visa free area although those going onto the mainland must get a visa/stamp – don’t quote me though!). After security you are greeted with a panoramic view of the airport, here many passengers realise just how scenic this airport is and just how close we are to the sea.



The airport was incredibly busy with passengers, a constant stream of flights departed to cities across the mainland. I bought a couple of bottles of Hallasan soju to keep as souvenirs (I’ve never seen this brand on the mainland) and a calamansi-ade (again, something I’ve never seen on the mainland) from a convenience store I sat down and watched our Airbus A330 pull in to gate 6 an hour before my flight was scheduled to depart. There appeared to be an enormous amount of freight coming off the inbound aircraft and unloading of this went on long after disembarkation ended.


FLIGHT
From – Jeju International, RKPC
To – Busan Gimhae, RKPK
Airline – Korean Air
Flight – KE 1004
A/C – Airbus A330-323
Reg – HL7587
Date – 01/08/15
Dep Time (Sched/Act) – 12:00/12:24
Arr Time (Sched/Act) – 12:55/13:00




The aircraft throwing be over to Busan this afternoon



Today’s aircraft would be HL7587, an older example of the type which made its first flight almost 15 years ago in November 2000 and was delivered later that month. Korean Air operates the A330 on a very wide range of destinations across Asia, Africa, Australasia, Europe and North America (I always think being a crew on the type for KE must be great if you love travelling!). In the past week my aircraft had made trips to Hong Kong, Honolulu, Phuket, Bali, Dalian, Bangkok, Tokyo, Osaka, Shenzhen and Ulaanbaatar. Despite the aircraft’s age, to a non-expert there were no signs suggesting that we were on an older aircraft; the 2-4-2 configuration cabin was very well kept and clean. The seats were spacious, comfortable and more modern looking than on the 747 with a large touchscreen PTV, USB port and controller. Unfortunately after showing the safety video the PTVs remained inactive for the duration of the flight. The crew on the flight today were Korean; again bar the captain (around 25% of the airline’s pilots are from abroad).


Here we go!


Definitely not my seat


This is more like it!

Boarding began on time at 11:40 and was completed in no time at all (the flight was only about 40% full), the loading of freight on the other hand took far longer and was not completed until just before our scheduled departure time. Unfortunately when 12:00 rolled around a couple of KE 737s had pushed back behind our aircraft so there was a slight delay to the proceedings. After these had begun their taxi we pushed back and made a long taxi to runway 07. There was a significant queue for takeoff with Jeju Air, Korean Air and T’Way aircraft in front of us and a couple of aircraft landing. This meant we didn’t actually take off until 24 minutes after our scheduled departure time.


Seated and ready to go


Plenty of cargo


Scenic taxi


Scenic holding, a Jin Air 738 lands. Dodu is located in the backgroud

We made a powerful take off and rotated in no time at all, our departure took us out over Jeju City, from the air you realise just how large it is! We then headed along the NE coast of Jeju before heading directly for Busan. During the climb service for the flight began and was (as expected) identical to that of the first flight, a basic round of drinks, but perfectly sufficient for such a short flight.


Annyeonghekyeseyo Jeju Airport


Jeju City


Goodbye Jeju!

Soon after we reached our cruising altitude we began our decent, a very small portion of the southern tip of Geoje Island appeared and we sunk further towards earth. Our approach was mostly over the sea surrounding Busan which is littered with a variety of ships ranging from some of the world’s largest waiting to enter the 5th largest container port in the world to small fast fishing boats out for a day’s fishing. We flew straight into Busan’s runway 36L with the final stages of the approach taking us over the Dadaepo and Hadan areas of SW Busan and then over the wide Nakdong river and its large park before making a soft landing in Gimhae five minutes late. We taxied off the runway and a few minutes later we arrived at gate 37 at Busan Gimhae’s domestic terminal.


Geoje Island whilst on approach to Busan


Sorry for the lack of pictures on approach, however here is a picture taken on approach to the same runway last October on a Peach A320 from KIX

Disembarkation was quick and I was out the airport in a couple of minutes after disembarking the aircraft.


Thanks for the ride!

SUMMARY
Overall I’d say that my flights with Korean Air lived up to the high quality I expected with the airline and I’m looking forward to flying with them again in the future, preferably on a much longer flight!
Comparing their A330 and 747, they were both equally spacious; I personally found the seat on the former more comfortable with a more modern looking PTV (although I can’t really say anything about these having not been able to use them). The crew were friendly and welcoming and I can only say positive things about my experience, except my personal bugbear that they didn’t speak to me in Korean even though I spoke Korean to them but as I said if I didn’t speak Korean perhaps I’d be a bit displeased if they didn’t speak any English to me.
Booking via their website was easy and quick (as you’d expect from a large international airline), seats can be selected at check in and on domestic flights economy passengers can bring 20kg of hold luggage.
Thank you Korean Air, I hope to fly with you again soon!
And thank you everyone for reading, please feel free to comment and ask questions etc etc.

More Jeju Pictures








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