Jin Air

Green, cheeky and pretty big for a budget airline: Jin Air is the low-cost subsidiary of Korean Air and stands out from afar at Asian airports with its bright lime green. Most of the time a Boeing 737 is hiding under the paint – but now and then a 777-200ER with almost 400 seats rolls past in low-cost looks. This page shows you how to place Jin Air, which types to expect and why the airline’s look is changing right now.

Jin Air at a glance

Jin Air is a South Korean low-cost airline and belongs to the Korean Air group, that is, the Hanjin Group. It was founded in early 2008, at first under a different name; in the summer of that year it took the name Jin Air. The first flight went in July 2008 from Seoul-Gimpo to the holiday island of Jeju – with a Boeing 737-800, the type that has defined the airline to this day.

The idea behind it is typical of large network airlines: with a budget brand of its own, the group takes on low-cost competitors on short routes without diluting the parent’s premium product. At first Jin Air flew only domestically; at the end of 2009, Bangkok followed as the first international scheduled route, and later Japan, China, Taiwan and more destinations in Southeast Asia were added. In December 2017, the airline went public on the Korean stock exchange, but control stayed with the group.

The move into long-haul is unusual for a budget airline. Starting in late 2014, Jin Air took over Boeing 777-200ERs from Korean Air, making it the first Korean low-cost airline with a widebody aircraft. In December 2015, the Seoul-Incheon–Honolulu route started, and from late 2016 Cairns in Australia was added for a time as well. Both long-haul routes have since been discontinued.

The most important hubs are Seoul-Incheon Airport for international routes and Seoul-Gimpo for domestic traffic. Additional focus points are in Busan and on Jeju.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code LJ: appears in the flight number, on the departure board and on the ticket.
• ICAO code JNA: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign JIN AIR: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

Because Jin Air has a codeshare agreement with Korean Air, the same flight can also show up on the departure board with a KE number. For your sighting, though, what counts is who actually operates the flight – and the ICAO code JNA on the tracker tells you that more reliably than the flight number. How to read tracker data correctly is explained in the guide to flight tracking for spotters.

The fleet: Boeing 737s and a handful of 777s

For many years, Jin Air was a pure Boeing airline. According to publicly available fleet overviews, the fleet comprises about 30 aircraft in fall 2026. Because aircraft are currently moving between the companies due to the merger with Air Busan and Air Seoul, you should treat the numbers as a snapshot.

Type	Number (approx., fall 2026)	Seats	Spotter note
Boeing 737-800	about 19	189	The workhorse, tracker code B738
Boeing 737-900	3	188	Longer fuselage, tracker code B739
Boeing 737-8 (MAX 8)	a few, number growing	189	New engines with serrated trailing edge, tracker code B38M
Boeing 777-200ER	3	393	Ex-Korean Air, the fleet’s rare widebody
Airbus A321-200	1	174	Taken over from the Asiana group in 2026
Airbus A321neo	on order	open	Comes with the new combined fleet

The 737 family

The Boeing 737-800 has been the backbone of Jin Air since the first flight in 2008. Alongside it flies a small group of Boeing 737-900s, which are somewhat longer but hardly have more seats – with 188 seats, even one fewer than the 737-800. The newest addition is the Boeing 737-8 of the MAX generation, also with 189 seats. The manufacturer of all three is Boeing.

The 777-200ER

The highlight for spotters is the Boeing 777-200ER. Jin Air took over these aircraft secondhand from Korean Air and fitted them with a very dense 393 seats. There were originally four aircraft; one has since been retired and three are still in service. The Jin Air 777s have Pratt & Whitney engines from the PW4000 family. That mattered in February 2021: after an engine failure on a United 777 with this powerplant, Jin Air’s aircraft were grounded as well until authorities and the manufacturer had set new inspection requirements. The first Jin Air 777 did not return to scheduled service until June 2022.

737-800, 737-900 or 737-8? How to tell them apart

All three variants wear the same livery and look almost identical from a distance. A few features will still let you sort them reliably.

The difference between the 737-800 and 737-900 is hardest to judge at the spot. The easiest way to determine it is through the registration: if you can read the registration, you will find the variant in any fleet database. The overview of the 737 generations, which compares Classic, NG and MAX, helps as well.

With the 777, you don’t need a magnifying glass: two very large engines, the wide fuselage and the main landing gear with six wheels each make it unmistakable. Only against a 787 can there be brief doubt at a distance – the comparison Boeing 777 or 787 helps you there.

How to recognize Jin Air

Jin Air’s brand color is a bright lime green. It appears in the “JIN AIR” titles and on the tail and sets the airline clearly apart from the light-blue Korean Air and the other Korean budget carriers. On the ground, too, Jin Air long cultivated a casual image: until mid-2019, the cabin crew wore jeans as their official uniform, which was unusual for a Korean airline.

A simple sequence helps you identify it at the spot:

The big merger: Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul

Behind the current change is the biggest reorganization of Korean aviation in decades. Korean Air completed its takeover of Asiana Airlines in December 2024. Asiana brought two budget subsidiaries of its own: Air Busan, focused on Busan, and Air Seoul. That suddenly gave the group three low-cost airlines side by side.

The solution: Jin Air takes over the two sisters along with their aircraft, liabilities and staff. The result is a combined low-cost airline under the name Jin Air. According to Korean reports, completion of the merger is scheduled for spring 2027 (as of October 2026). In parallel, the Asiana brand is also being absorbed into Korean Air.

For you as a spotter, this phase is exciting because it is time-limited:

• Airbus joins the fleet: Air Busan and Air Seoul fly Airbus jets of the A320 family. With them, Jin Air, so far an almost all-Boeing airline, gets a second manufacturer. The guide to the A320 family shows how to tell the A320 and A321 apart.
• Liveries are disappearing: With the combined Jin Air brand, the colors of Air Busan and Air Seoul are likely to vanish bit by bit. If you still want the old liveries in your archive, you should hurry.
• A new competitive setup: Measured by fleet size, the new Jin Air is likely to become South Korea’s largest low-cost airline; it competes with Jeju Air and t’way Air.

Network and spotting chances

Jin Air does not fly to Europe. The route network is concentrated on South Korea itself, on Japan, China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and on Guam in the Pacific. Former destinations such as Honolulu, Cairns or Saipan have been discontinued. Many connections are seasonal, others are launched or cut again and again – so check the current schedule before a trip.

In Japan, Jin Air is one of the frequent visitors. At Tokyo-Narita Airport, the airline shares the apron with many other budget carriers from Korea and Japan, including Peach Aviation or ZIPAIR.

You see the 777 mainly on high-demand routes where the large capacity pays off. Your best chance is at Incheon, where the aircraft start and end their rotations. If you are spotting in Asia for the first time, Plane spotting for beginners helps you prepare.

Jin Air in the Korean market

For a country its size, South Korea has an unusually large number of low-cost airlines. Besides Jin Air, they include Jeju Air, t’way Air, Air Busan, Air Seoul and Air Premia, which, with its long-haul 787s, positions itself somewhere between a budget and a network airline. Most of the budget carriers share the classic model: a uniform fleet, high load factors, short turnaround times – the principle is explained in the article How low-cost carriers work.

Jin Air has always had a special status here. As a subsidiary of Korean Air, it could draw on the parent’s aircraft, maintenance and know-how. That shows especially with the 777: no other Korean budget airline went for a widebody jet from its own group so early.

There was a setback in 2018. The authorities found that between 2010 and 2016, a board member without Korean citizenship was registered – inadmissible under Korean aviation law. The transport ministry refrained from revoking the license but imposed restrictions: new routes, new aircraft registrations and charter flights were not allowed for about a year and a half. The restrictions were not lifted until the end of March 2020. For spotters, that explains why the fleet hardly grew during that time.

Common mix-ups

• Taking Jin Air for Korean Air – the parent flies light blue, Jin Air lime green. The flight number can still be a KE number.
• Taking Jin Air for a SkyTeam member – only Korean Air is a member, Jin Air is not. You can find more on the alliances in the overview Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam.
• Taking the 777 for a leased Korean Air aircraft – the Jin Air 777s are a permanent part of the fleet and fly in Jin Air colors.
• Logging a 737-900 as a 737-800 – the difference in length is subtle, the registration brings clarity.
• Taking a green A321 for a mistake – the merger is bringing Airbus jets into the fleet.
• Mixing up Jeju Air and Jin Air – both are Korean budget carriers with 737s, but Jeju Air uses orange, Jin Air green.

Conclusion

Jin Air is more than a green budget airline from Seoul. The airline combines a classic 737 fleet with a true exotic – the densely seated 777-200ER – and is currently at the center of the reorganization of Korean aviation. Anyone spotting in Korea or Japan in the coming months can follow the change live: old Air Busan and Air Seoul colors, new Airbus jets in green and the rare low-cost 777s.