SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free has partnered with Air Busan to launch a promotion for ‘non-landing tourism’ charter flights for domestic customers during October, with duty free shopping available. The flights begin during the 9 October Hangeul holiday period. As reported, duty free shopping on so-called ‘Non-landing tourism flights’ or ‘Flights to nowhere’ has generated strong spends from domestic customers for Lotte Duty Free during the pandemic.
Charter tickets are offered on a first come, first served basis to Lotte Duty Free customers who make a purchase of US$550 or above at Lotte Duty Free’s Myeong-dong Main Store, World Tower Store, COEX Store or Busan Store.
Lotte Duty Free said that new rules allow non-landing tourism flights to take off and land at different airports, rather than to and from the same airport, as previously. In one case, the charter will fly from Seoul Gimpo to Gimhae Airport in Busan, and includes an overnight stay. Lotte Duty Free said that because both flights take off from international airports, and the route takes it over Japan’s Tsushima Island, travellers can still purchase duty free.
Non-landing flights include Gimpo to Gimpo and Gimhae to Gimhae on 23 October, plus a further Gimpo to Gimpo charter on 30 October.
Other benefits include discount coupons for shopping at Lotte Duty Free, credit for LDF PAY up to KRW990,000 (US$830) on purchases above a certain amount, plus the chance to win further Air Busan tickets and beauty kits.
Lotte Duty Free Head of Marketing Lee Sang-jin said: “After non-landing flight tours were implemented, the number of passengers exceeded 20,000, so we planned this promotion to allow customers to enjoy duty free shopping and domestic travel.”
As reported, Lotte Duty Free recently launched a ‘Luxury Shopping Fiesta’, selling a wide range of 130 brands at up to -80% discounts for the Chuseok holidays. The company said that passengers on non-landing charter flights could benefit from membership upgrades and discounts of up to -60% at Lotte Online Duty Free during this promotional period.
