Jeju Island has announced its intention to launch eVTOL air taxi routes for tourists in 2025, making it South Korea’s first municipality to adopt plans for urban air mobility (UAM).
According to an exclusive report in the Korea Herald, the flight paths along the island’s coastlines will connect the Jeju International Airport to some of the island’s most popular tourist destinations.
One route will cover the distance from the airport to the Moseulpo area, on a small peninsula in the southwest corner of the island. A second route will connect Moseulpo to Gapado and Marado, two small islands south of Moseulpo. A third route will connect the Jeju International Airport to Seongsan Ilchulbong, a mountain peak on the far east end of Jeju Island commonly known as “Sunrise Peak.”
Jeju Island officials worked with the South Korean aviation company Kencoa Aerospace and the Jeju Free International City Development Center to devise the routes, which “would allow tourists to hop on the electric vertical takeoff and landing [eVTOL] aircraft at Jeju airport and directly land at tourist spots and transfer to drone taxis nearby,” Kencoa Aerospace CEO Chung Chan-young told the Korea Herald.
“Jeju works as a perfect test bed and the best location to leverage UAM for the area’s advantages,” Chung added. “Examining geographical features through the coastline is less complicated, and establishing a vertiport on the sea can also work.”
Exactly which eVTOL air taxis will fly those routes has yet to be determined, but South Korea already has plans to work with several companies on air taxi services and vertiports in the country.
Just last week, the South Korean electric aviation company MintAir provisionally agreed to purchase 40 Jaunt Journey eVTOL air taxis to operate in Korean markets. South Korea’s Hanwha Systems has also partnered with Skyports to develop UAM infrastructure in Korea. In addition, Jeju Island officials are planning to set up vertiports at major hotels across the island, according to the Korea Herald. The island hosts millions of tourists every year.
