Charter Services Return to Reconnect Ibaraki, Seoul on March 25

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Ibaraki Airport’s terminal building is seen in Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture, in January 2020.

The Ibaraki prefectural government announced Friday that a series of chartered flights connecting Ibaraki Airport and South Korea’s Incheon Airport, which is the gateway to Seoul, will be operated from March 25 to April 6.

International flight services at Ibaraki Airport had been suspended since March 2020 because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The scheduled chartered flights will mark the resumption of international flights for the first time in about three years.

The Ibaraki-Incheon chartered flights will be operated by Jin Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier (LCC). Under the plan, the flights operate every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during the period. Thus the LCC will operate a total of six return air trips in the two weeks.

Planes in the plan will depart Seoul at 2 p.m. and arrive at Ibaraki Airport at 4 p.m. Flights returning to South Korea depart at 5 p.m. and arrive at 7:45 p.m.

According to the prefectural government’s airport affairs division, the charters will be Ibaraki Airport’s first air conveyance to Seoul since September 2019, when Eastar Jet, another South Korean LCC, ended its regular flight services.