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Around the island in 60 minutesAir taxi offers rare views |
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| ▲ Photo by Jean K. Min |
The most exciting five minutes in any flight to Jeju begins when the plane banks left — or right depending on the direction of the final approach to the runway — making a circle along the western shore of the island. From the vantage point of a window seat, passengers enjoy a spectacular view of scores of oreum (secondary volcanic cones) and the colorful farmland below. If they are lucky, they may even have a brief glimpse of Baeknokdam, Mount Halla's crater lake.
But it is just a five-minute glimpse of the island’s beauty from the air before the plane touches down on the tarmac of Jeju International Airport. Given that the only alternative way to enjoy the crater at Mount Halla’s peak has until recently entailed many hours of trekking up the mountain, the fleeting views are all the more valuable for many casual visitors.
That was until Ace Air launched an air taxi service on the island early in March. Ace Air flies an L-410 Turbojet, a twin engine short-range aircraft designed by Czech aircraft manufacturer LET.
I was recently a passenger on the air taxi along with almost 20 international travel journalists and conference organizers to test the viability of a sightseeing flight around the island as a VIP tour option. With no space to accommodate additional flight crew, Capt. Lim Sung Nam turned on a recorded safety message while taxiing the Jeju airfield. It took significantly less distance to take off as the L-410 weighs much less than regular commercial jets but the noise of the twin propellers was very loud, making it nearly impossible to decipher Lim’s messages. The head-sets at all passenger seats are not just for listening to lounge music, but are there for in-flight communication between the captain and passengers.
Lim flew around the island clockwise and after some 20 minutes of leisurely cruising along the northeastern shore, we arrived at Sunrise Peak, the spectacular volcanic tuff cone that is one of three UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites on the island.
I have visited Sunrise Peak probably more than 10 times since I settled on the island but the view from the air taxi at an altitude of 300 meters sent shivers down my spine. The bowl-shaped crater looked disconcertingly alien despite my multiple visits at ground level. Afterwards I was itching to fly over Mount Halla to enjoy a close-up aerial view of Baeknokdam filled with water, but unfortunately, the hazy Jeju sky and a fine drizzle of rain cut short our planned hour-long flight.
Ace Air plans to charge about 160,000 won per person for their inaugural tour scheduled for July, and about 2.1 million won per hour for charter flights around Jeju or to and from other domestic and international destinations. Ace Air is not the first company on Jeju to attempt commercial sightseeing flights around the island. SK Air introduced a Russian M-171 helicopter tour of the island in 2004 that could seat up to 30 passengers but soon stopped the service after concerns about unreliable service and cost overruns.
With considerably less noise and lower fuel costs than the helicopter service, Ace Air seems to have a better chance this time to do it right, particularly as Jeju vies to attract international MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) travelers. The company currently plans three routes for its scheduled flight around the island, which change depending on weather conditions and passengers’ requests.
My only gripe about the experience is that passengers have to go through a complete airport security check simply to fly around the island. After all, aren’t they going to come back to the terminal again?
Ace Air’s sales director Kim Jong Seok said that, “a smaller dedicated terminal such as Alddreu Airfield in southern Jeju would be the best launch pad for this type of service, as it would eliminate the need for arduous security checks for casual tourists.” However, Alddreu Airfield is owned by the Korean Air Force.
Capt. Lim promised that he would fly along some islets off the western shore of the island when I next come back as a passenger this summer. I left the plane convinced that sightseeing from the air, along with cave exploration and underwater diving, is one of three tourism frontiers left for Jeju to exploit in the future.
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ⓒ Jeju Weekly 2009 (http://www.jejuweekly.net)
All materials on this site are protected under the Korean Copyright Law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published without the prior consent of Jeju Weekly. |
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| Jeju-Asia's No.1 for Cruise |
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Title:The jeju Weekly(제주위클리) | Mail to editor@jejuweekly.net | Phone: +82-64-724-7776 Fax: +82-64-724-7796
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Registration Number: Jeju, Ah01158(제주,아01158) | Date of Registration: November 10,2022 | Publisher&Editor : Hee Tak Ko | Youth policy: Hee Tak Ko
Copyright ⓒ 2009 All materials on this site are protected under the Korean Copyright Law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published
without the prior consent of jeju weekly.com.
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