Four of South Korea's airlines have suspended their respective domestic services to Daegu in the south of the country, which has been deemed a hotbed for the COVID-19 virus outbreak, the Yonhap News Agency has said. Of the 763 South Koreans infected with COVID-19 on February 24, 636 are in Daegu, the country's fourth-largest city, with a population of 2.4 million, which is located about 162 nautical miles (300 kilometres) southeast of Seoul.

A summary of the routes affected is listed below:

  • Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) has suspended its two Daegu routes until March 28, namely its 2x daily operation from Jeju and its daily rotation to Seoul Incheon;
  • Asiana Airlines (OZ, Seoul Incheon), South Korea's second-biggest airline, will temporarily cancel its 3x daily Daegu-Jeju route - its only domestic route to the city - until March 9;
  • Air Busan (BX, Busan), low-cost carrier (LCC) subsidiary of Asiana, halted its Daegu-Jeju route on February 23 and Daegu-Taipei city pair on the same day;
  • Jeju Air (7C, Jeju), South Korea's biggest LCC, will also suspend its Daegu-Jeju route - its only domestic route from Daegu - from February 24 until February 29. According to the ch-aviation Commercial Aviation Operator Schedule Data module, the LCC also currently offers international services from Daegu to Da Nang, Cebu, and Taipei Taoyuan. Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows these routes were cancelled from February 17, 18, and 23 respectively.

In terms of the importance to Daegu, Jeju Air is the airport's second-largest carrier (15% share of seats), followed by Asiana (10.19%), Air Busan (10.15%) and Korean Air (9.8%). Daegu's biggest airline, t'way Air (TW, Daegu), which commands 50% of weekly capacity, has yet to join its fellow Korean carriers with its own domestic seat cull. It operates 101 weekly services to Jeju - its only domestic service from Daegu.