Travelers across South Korea and on key transpacific routes are facing fresh disruption after 11 flights operated by Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Delta Air Lines and other carriers were canceled in recent days.

The cancellations, affecting major gateways including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports as well as Busan’s Gimhae International Airport, have disrupted connections to Jeju, New Chitose, Chubu Centrair, Seattle, and Atlanta, underlining the fragility of regional and long haul schedules at the height of the winter travel period.

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Cluster of Cancellations Across Seoul, Busan and Jeju

According to operational data published on January 19, a total of 11 flights were canceled across three of South Korea’s busiest airports: Incheon, Gimpo and Gimhae. The affected services included both high frequency domestic routes, such as Seoul Jeju, and strategic international links to Japan and the United States. While the disruptions are modest in absolute numbers, they occurred on routes with dense passenger flows, amplifying the impact on travelers.

At Busan’s Gimhae International Airport, two Korean Air departures were grounded. One was scheduled to operate to Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport, an essential shuttle for business travelers, while the other was bound for Jeju, South Korea’s flagship resort island and a perpetual hotspot for domestic tourism. Local media reports indicated that departures slated for Saturday and Monday evenings were pulled from the board, sending passengers back to ticket counters in search of alternatives.

In Seoul, Gimpo International Airport, which primarily handles domestic and short haul regional traffic, saw three Asiana Airlines flights to Jeju canceled on Tuesday. The services were due to depart throughout the day, at mid morning, mid afternoon and early evening, affecting leisure travelers, tour groups and residents returning home. Passengers reported long lines at customer service desks as airline staff worked to rebook them onto later departures or next day flights.

Incheon International Sees Key Long Haul and Regional Routes Scrapped

The largest concentration of cancellations occurred at Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s main international hub and a critical node for global transit passengers. Six flights were removed from the schedule there, including several Korean Air services to Japan and two Delta Air Lines long haul departures to the United States. The cancellations underscore how quickly disruptions at a single hub can cascade through connecting networks in North America and Asia.

Korean Air scrubbed three regional flights from Incheon, including two services to New Chitose Airport on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido and one to Chubu Centrair International Airport near Nagoya. These routes are popular with winter sports travelers headed to Hokkaido’s ski resorts as well as business passengers linking Korean manufacturing centers with Japanese industrial hubs. With departures cut on both mid morning and early afternoon slots to New Chitose, travelers found themselves competing for limited seats on remaining flights during a peak travel window.

Delta Air Lines, one of the major foreign carriers serving Incheon, canceled two key transpacific flights from the Korean hub. One was scheduled to operate to Seattle Tacoma International Airport, a critical gateway for passengers bound for the Pacific Northwest and onward connections across the United States and Canada. The other was due to depart for Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta’s primary hub in the American Southeast and a vital connection point for Latin American and East Coast itineraries. The loss of both departures in a single evening forced many travelers into overnight stays near Incheon and complex rebookings across Delta’s and Korean Air’s joint network.

Weather, Capacity Constraints and Network Restructuring Weigh on Operations

While airlines did not immediately provide detailed public explanations for each of the 11 cancellations, the pattern emerges against a broader backdrop of operational strain in Northeast Asia. Over the past two years, South Korean carriers have repeatedly grappled with weather related volatility, capacity bottlenecks, and ongoing restructuring of their route networks as demand patterns evolve beyond the pandemic period.

Jeju in particular has been repeatedly hit by severe weather events that trigger large scale flight disruptions. In May 2024, officials on the island reported 63 flights canceled in a single day as strong winds and heavy rain swept across the region, forcing the Korea Meteorological Administration to issue wind shear and storm warnings. The following summer, in July 2024, dozens more flights were canceled or delayed at Jeju International Airport under another bout of high winds, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded in terminals while airlines struggled to keep limited services operating safely.

More broadly, winter storms and cold waves have become a recurring challenge for Korean airports. Previous cold snaps brought double digit flight cancellations at Jeju and surrounding regions as snow and ice accumulation forced runway closures and limited visibility. Although the latest cluster of 11 cancellations has not been directly attributed to a single major weather event, it follows a pattern in which airlines proactively trim schedules when meteorological forecasts threaten to push operations beyond safe margins.

Impact on Travelers: Missed Connections and Overnight Stays

For travelers, the latest cancellations translated into a familiar mix of missed connections, rebooked itineraries and unexpected overnight stays. Passengers booked on the Korean Air and Asiana domestic flights to and from Jeju, Gimpo and Gimhae reported being offered same day standby options when space permitted, or next day departures in cases where remaining flights were already heavily booked. With Jeju one of the country’s most popular leisure destinations, hotel reservations, car rentals and group tours all required last minute adjustments.

On the transpacific side, the grounding of Delta’s Incheon Seattle and Incheon Atlanta services presented a more complex challenge. Many passengers on these flights use Incheon as a connecting hub, linking from regional cities such as Busan, Daegu, Fukuoka or Sapporo before continuing to North America. When a long haul leg is canceled, the disruption ripples backward through the network, forcing airlines to reroute passengers via alternative hubs such as Tokyo, Osaka or other U.S. gateways on partner carriers. Some travelers described being rebooked via Tokyo Haneda or Narita, while others received vouchers for overnight accommodation near Incheon and were moved onto flights departing the following day.

Airlines emphasized that standard rebooking and refund policies remain in place. Affected customers are typically permitted to change dates without additional fees, subject to seat availability in the same cabin, or to cancel for a full refund if travel is no longer possible or necessary. However, during busy travel periods such as winter holidays and festival seasons, spare capacity on popular routes can be scarce, leading to frustration among travelers forced to extend their journeys by 24 hours or more.

South Korea’s Aviation Sector Under Pressure

The cluster of cancellations comes as South Korea’s aviation sector undergoes significant restructuring. Korean Air has already signaled a strategic shift in how it deploys aircraft across the country’s airports. Recent data presented by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport shows that the carrier has sharply reduced international flights from regional airports other than Seoul, including Busan’s Gimhae. In 2024, Korean Air operated roughly 45 percent fewer international services from regional gateways than it did in 2019, reallocating capacity instead to core long haul routes from Incheon.

This rationalization is driven in part by delays in aircraft deliveries and the need to prioritize higher yielding services. Yet it also means that regional travelers now have fewer direct options and are more reliant on feeder flights to Incheon and Gimpo. In such a context, the loss of even a single shuttle flight, such as those canceled between Busan, Gimpo and Jeju, can significantly disrupt itineraries by severing connections to long haul departures. Industry analysts note that the current situation leaves little margin for error when bad weather, technical issues or staffing shortages arise.

Other domestic carriers are facing operational headwinds of their own. Low cost and regional airlines, which played a key role in expanding access to international destinations from secondary cities, have had to pare back networks following incidents, safety reviews or financial pressures. In Busan, for example, Air Busan has moved to reduce or suspend certain routes after a passenger aircraft fire incident led to a comprehensive review of its summer flight schedule. The cumulative effect of these shifts is a thinner overall network in which cancellations quickly translate into bottlenecks.

Regional Disruptions Ripple Across Northeast Asia

The South Korean cancellations are also part of a broader pattern of volatility in Northeast Asian air travel. In late December 2025, thousands of passengers across Japan, South Korea, China and neighboring markets were stranded as major carriers including All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Korean Air and Air China collectively delayed more than a thousand flights and canceled more than 150. Airports such as Tokyo Haneda, New Chitose near Sapporo, Fukuoka and Jeju all recorded heavy disruption as winter storms, congestion and operational constraints converged.

In that context, the latest 11 flight cancellations in South Korea, while limited in number, highlight how quickly localized issues can intersect with wider regional strains. New Chitose, which appears among the affected destinations from Incheon in the current episode, has been particularly exposed to weather risks due to its northern latitude and heavy snowfall patterns. When both ends of a route are vulnerable to weather and capacity shocks, airlines have little choice but to make early, often conservative decisions about whether to operate.

Travel industry observers point out that as airlines rebuild networks and seek to restore profitability, they are more likely to cancel or consolidate flights that show weaker advanced bookings or offer limited revenue upside, especially when external factors such as storms add uncertainty. That calculus may be influencing decisions on some of the regional Japanese routes from Incheon and Busan, which depend heavily on leisure traffic and are sensitive to seasonal fluctuations.

What Travelers Should Do Now

For passengers with upcoming itineraries through South Korean airports or on affected routes, the latest disruptions underscore the importance of proactive planning. Travelers are advised to monitor flight status frequently in the 24 hours before departure, using airline apps or airport information boards, and to allow generous connection times, particularly when transferring from domestic feeders to long haul international services. During periods of unstable weather, building in extra buffers can reduce the risk of missed connections due to short notice cancellations or delays.

Experts also recommend that travelers familiarize themselves with airlines’ rebooking and compensation policies before flying. Flexible tickets and itineraries booked on a single ticket through an alliance or joint venture, such as the partnership between Korean Air and Delta, typically provide more robust protection than separate point to point bookings. In the event of cancellations like those impacting Incheon Seattle or Incheon Atlanta services, passengers on through tickets are more likely to be rerouted at no extra cost compared with those on fragmented itineraries.

Finally, insurance and contingency planning are becoming more critical for long haul and multi stop journeys. Policies that cover missed connections, extended hotel stays and rebooked flights can help cushion the financial blow of disruption. While the recent wave of 11 cancellations in South Korea is small compared with the large scale shutdowns seen during past typhoons or snowstorms, it reinforces a trend that frequent flyers in the region have come to recognize: volatility in airline operations remains an enduring feature of travel across Northeast Asia’s busy skies.