Air Busan

If you spot on Korea’s south coast, you see mainly one thing in Busan: blue-and-white Airbus jets with “AIR BUSAN” titles. The airline is as closely tied to its home city as hardly any other Korean low-cost carrier – the city is even a shareholder. At the same time Air Busan faces the biggest upheaval in its history, because the brand is being absorbed into a joint low-cost airline of the Korean Air group. Here you learn how to recognize Air Busan with confidence, which types are in the fleet and why the livery is worth shooting right now.

Air Busan at a glance

Air Busan is the low-cost airline of the port city of Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city. It was founded in 2007 under the name Busan International Airlines and got its current name in February 2008. Two partners stood behind the project from the start: the city of Busan with companies from the region that wanted an airline of their own for the southeast of the country, and Asiana Airlines, which contributed aircraft, know-how and sales.

To this day Asiana is the largest shareholder with a good 40 percent. Since December 2018 Air Busan has also been listed on the Korean stock exchange KOSPI. Because Korean Air took over the majority of Asiana at the end of 2024, Air Busan now belongs to the Korean Air group – and thus to the same family as the low-cost sister Jin Air.

The business model is classic for an Asian low-cost carrier: domestic routes between Busan, Seoul and the vacation island of Jeju, plus many short- and medium-haul routes to Japan, China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Air Busan does not fly long-haul. Unlike the competitors Jeju Air and t’way Air, which grow mainly from Seoul, Air Busan is clearly oriented toward its home base in the southeast.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code BX: appears in the flight number, on departure boards and on tickets.
• ICAO code ABL: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on many flight trackers.
• Callsign AIR BUSAN: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

IATA and ICAO codes bearing no resemblance to each other is the case with many airlines. Why there are two systems at all and which one shows up where is explained in the article IATA and ICAO codes explained. If you want to keep flight number and radio callsign apart at the spot, the post on the difference between callsign and flight number helps.

History: from the Boeing 737 to the Airbus fleet

Air Busan flew its first scheduled flight on October 27, 2008 on the route Busan–Seoul-Gimpo. The initial fleet consisted of used Boeing jets, mostly from Asiana: the Boeing 737-500 and the somewhat longer Boeing 737-400. Both types belong to the so-called Classic generation of the 737 and were no novelty even then – but for a young regional airline a cheap way in.

In March 2010 Air Busan entered international service with Fukuoka in Japan. Japan is only a good hour’s flight from Busan and quickly became the most important market. In January 2011 the first Airbus A321 joined the fleet, again with an Asiana background. That began the switch to Airbus: in 2016 Air Busan said goodbye to the last 737s, and later the smaller A320 and finally the new-generation A321neo were added.

With the stock market listing at the end of 2018 Air Busan had established itself as a brand in its own right. But just two years later the situation changed fundamentally: in 2020 Korean Air announced the takeover of Asiana. Part of the plan from the beginning was to merge the two groups’ three low-cost subsidiaries – Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul – into a single airline.

The fleet: three Airbus variants

Air Busan relies completely on the A320 family. In fall 2026 the fleet comprises around 20 aircraft. The exact breakdown changes constantly, because older aircraft go back to lessors and individual A321neos are grounded at times. The overview shows the types you can encounter:

Type	Role	Type code	Spotter note
Airbus A320-200	Smallest model, around 180 seats	A320	Shorter than the A321, only two overwing emergency exits
Airbus A321-200 (ceo)	Long-time backbone	A321	Mostly with classic wingtips, some with sharklets
Airbus A321neo	New generation	A21N	Large engines, sharklets as standard
Airbus A321LR	Extended-range version of the A321neo	A21N	Hardly distinguishable from the A321neo on the outside

The A321neo is the most modern type in the fleet. In March 2020 Air Busan took delivery of its first A321LR – as the first low-cost airline in Korea. The long-range version has additional tanks and is suited to longer routes, for example to Southeast Asia. Because it carries the same type code as the regular A321neo, you can’t tell them apart on the tracker; only checking the registration helps here.

Some of the A321ceos come from Asiana’s stock and accordingly have a few years behind them. That is interesting for registration collectors: several Air Busan jets flew for the parent before, and some moved between the group’s airlines. How such transfers work is covered in the article on re-registrations.

A321ceo or A321neo? How to tell them apart

Both variants wear the same color scheme and are practically the same length. Still, there are a few reliable features. A detailed comparison of all variants is provided by the guide A320neo or ceo?.

Careful with sharklets: some of Air Busan’s A321ceos also have the upswept wingtips. So they are no proof of a neo. The most reliable are the engines and the type code – especially in photos from a greater distance, where the wingtips are hard to make out.

You recognize the A320 by its shorter, stubbier silhouette. A quick trick: the A321 has a large door as an emergency exit in front of and behind the wing, while the A320 has only small overwing exits.

How to recognize Air Busan

The brand colors are shades of blue on white. The “AIR BUSAN” titles stand large on the forward fuselage, the tail is blue-designed and carries the airline’s logo. The livery fits the location by the sea and clearly differs from the competition’s colors.

On the tail is the South Korean registration with the prefix HL, followed by four digits. The prefix tells you only the country – all Korean airlines use it. For unambiguous identification you therefore need the livery or the ICAO code.

The merger with Jin Air and Air Seoul

With Korean Air’s takeover of Asiana, completed in December 2024, the fate of the low-cost subsidiaries was also sealed. Korean Air brings Jin Air, Asiana the two subsidiaries Air Busan and Air Seoul. The three airlines are being merged into one joint low-cost airline under the Jin Air brand. In August 2026 the merger agreement was signed; according to those involved, completion is planned for March 2027. Such dates depend on authorities and shareholders, though, and can slip.

For spotters this means two things. First: the Air Busan livery will gradually disappear. If you want to document the blue-and-white Airbus jets, you should do it in the coming months. Second: during the transition you may meet aircraft with mixed colors or new titles. How to classify such interim states is shown in the articles Recognizing hybrid liveries and When airlines change their design.

The fleet gets interesting too: so far Jin Air flies mainly Boeing 737s, while Air Busan and Air Seoul fly Airbuses. How the joint airline will handle this mix is not yet known in detail in fall 2026.

Flight 391: the fire in Busan

On the evening of January 28, 2025, an Air Busan A321-200 with the registration HL7763 stood ready at Busan-Gimhae for the flight to Hong Kong. Before taxiing, the cabin crew noticed smoke and fire in an overhead bin in the rear section. All 176 people on board – passengers, crew and a technician traveling along – left the aircraft via the emergency slides. Some suffered minor injuries, including from smoke. The fire spread to the fuselage, the aircraft burned out largely and was written off. It was the first hull loss in the airline’s history.

In March 2025 the South Korean investigators announced that the fire was probably caused by a power bank in the overhead bin whose internal insulation had failed. Even before that, the transport ministry had reacted: since March 1, 2025, power banks and e-cigarettes may no longer be stored in the overhead bins on Korean airlines, and charging via the seat USB ports is prohibited. Several Asian airlines subsequently tightened their rules as well. What applies in general to batteries in carry-on baggage is explained in the article Power banks and lithium batteries on aircraft.

Spotting Air Busan

The best place is clearly the home airport Busan-Gimhae (PUS) in the west of the city. Air Busan is among the most frequent airlines there, and since March 2024 it has checked in at the expanded international terminal. Note that Gimhae is also used by the military: obey barriers and photography bans, and find out on site where photography is allowed.

In Seoul you see Air Busan both at the city-near Gimpo Airport, mainly on the shuttle route to Busan, and at the international hub Seoul-Incheon, from where some international flights depart. On the island of Jeju the airline is also part of everyday life.

Abroad, Japan is the most important market. Air Busan flies to Fukuoka, Osaka-Kansai, Tokyo-Narita, Nagoya and Sapporo, among others. At Tokyo Narita Airport, for example, Sakura no Yama is worth a try; more ideas are provided by Plane spotting in Tokyo. Added to that are destinations in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as well as in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. At Hong Kong Airport and in Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi the chances are therefore good as well. You can find tips for the metropolis on the Pearl River Delta under Plane spotting in Hong Kong.

In Europe, on the other hand, you don’t see Air Busan: the range of the A320 family isn’t enough for that, and the airline has no widebodies.

Because the route network and fleet are in flux, it is worth checking the tracker before every trip. How to set up notifications for specific registrations or airlines is shown in the post Alerts for aircraft, types and airlines. If you collect registrations systematically, you will find inspiration for your own list in the article Collecting registrations.

Common mix-ups

• Not connecting BX and ABL – both codes belong to Air Busan, they just come from different systems.
• Taking every blue Airbus in Korea for Air Busan – the parent Asiana also flies Airbus. Titles and tail decide.
• Taking sharklets as proof of the A321neo – some A321ceos have them too. Engines and type code are more reliable.
• Equating the A321LR and A321neo – the type code is the same, telling them apart only works via the registration.
• Confusing Air Busan with Air Seoul – both are Asiana subsidiaries with an Airbus fleet, but Air Seoul flies mainly from Incheon and wears a different color scheme.

Conclusion

Air Busan is the airline of Korea’s southeast: started with used 737s from Asiana, today flying a pure Airbus fleet between Busan, Seoul, Japan and Southeast Asia. For spotters it offers a manageable but instructive type mix with the A320, A321ceo and A321neo. Because the brand is being absorbed into Jin Air with the merger, the blue-and-white jets are a subject with an expiration date – and precisely for that reason worth a trip to Busan.