South Korea to become crowded airline market

South Korea suddenly looks set to become a very crowded market due to a plethora of new start-ups.

Korean Air and Asiana have traditionally controlled the market and then there are two much smaller carriers - Han Sung Airlines and Jeju Air - which each operate turboprops.

But Singapore's Tiger Airways plans to launch a low-cost carrier called Tiger Incheon in joint venture partnership with the Incheon Municipal Government.

It will start with five Airbus A320s and be based at Seoul Incheon International Airport.

Not to be out done, Korean Air announced last November it plans to launch a low-cost carrier in May called Air Korea.

And earlier this year there was an announcement that Asiana Airlines will have a 46% stake in and will manage Busan International Air, a new airline that plans to launch later this year and is to be based in South Korea's port city of Busan.

And there are also two other start-ups - Yeongnam Air and Kostar Airlines - which both plan to launch this year and use Fokker 100s.

All of these new airlines will be restricted to operating in South Korea's domestic market because the government last November announced that all new airlines will have to wait two years before being permitted to operate internationally.

This means they will be up against South Korea's high-speed trains.

South Korea's new rules are also a major blow to Tiger which had hoped to launch services from South Korea to China and Japan.