Apologies in advance for the lack of pictures, I had my phone grabbed off me on a North London street a short time after this trip and lost all my photos!

Background
Having commenced operations in February 2018 and with only two active aircraft in their fleet, a pair of Bombardier CRJ-200s, Air Pohang is an airline that you could be forgiven for being unaware of. Having called Pohang home, a relatively small city on Korea’s southeastern coastline that is famous for its steelworks, this small airline operated just two routes. One of these provided Pohang with its only connection to the island of Jeju, whilst the other was slightly less logical and took the form of the very short 182 mile hop up to Seoul Gimpo. With this service having directly competed with Korean Air and their Airbus A220s, as well as Korail’s hourly direct KTX train service between Pohang and central Seoul which makes this journey in under two hours.

Being a British aviation enthusiast, and with opportunities to fly onboard the Bombardier CRJ-200 back in Europe being nye on impossible, I knew I had to fly with Air Pohang! Turning to tickets, it seemed that these could only be booked via Air Pohang’s website. However, it should be noted that this was impossible to do without a Korean bank card and the site was available in Korean only.

By the time my departure day came around in November 2018, only one of Air Pohang’s two strong fleet appeared to have been flying with the other parked up at a remote stand in Gimpo Airport. Yet, having passed through both Seoul Gimpo and Jeju multiple times in the preceding month, the fact that I had not seen their remaining Bombardier at these airports even just once was rather worrying! Even more concerning was the fact that all of their services had been cancelled on the day prior to my flight.


The Journey

Pohang Airport sits around ten kilometres away from the city centre and is separated from this by the city’s famous industrial heart. As such, reaching the airport is neither a difficult nor a costly task and can be reached by either city bus or taxi. For those with large amounts of luggage, taking a taxi is likely to prove to be the most sensible option. Travelling on a budget and with only minimal amounts of luggage, I decided to go for the cheaper option of a bus ride. After handing in my key card to the hotel reception desk, I headed out towards Yeongildae Beach and voyaged out into the refreshingly chilly air of early winter. Whilst I had plenty of time on my hands, I decided to play things safe and following a quick stop for a coffee at a local café I headed over to a nearby bus stop and climbed up onto a Hyundai manufactured bus. From the beach, the number 200 service made its way around the city centre, filling up with what seemed like the entirety of Pohang’s elderly population heading home with large bags of shopping before crossing the Hyeongsan River and darting out of the city centre.

After passing several factories, indicating that we were near the airport, the ROK Navy Air Wing museum came into view where several young conscripts could be seen polishing the retired museum pieces that sit along the road including a Grumman S-2 Tracker and an F-4 Phantom, as well as several helicopters. Meanwhile, up above a smoky ROK Navy Orion could be seen as it passed overhead on its downwind leg, accompanied by the roar of its engines which could easily be heard over the sound of the bus’ engine and the chattering of my fellow passengers. Many of Korea’s regional airports owe their existence to the military and Pohang Airport is no exception with the civilian area of the site occupying only a small corner of the airfield.

Around twenty minutes after climbing up onto the bus, this pulled up right outside the terminal building where I was the sole passenger to disembark. Pohang Airport’s terminal building appears to be a somewhat standard Korea Airports Corporation design that can be seen at regional airports across Korea - this consisting of a large and somewhat grand-looking modern concoction of glass and metal. Inside, the landside area is as modern as the exterior, and is highly spacious, immaculately clean and ultra-polished. Furthermore with fast and free WiFi and plug sockets to charge devices, the terminal is firmly planted in the twenty-first century. Conveniently located on the ground floor near the main entrance doors, the airport’s check in area consists of two well-branded areas, a slightly larger one servicing Korean Air’s services which was interestingly fully staffed despite the airline’s lack of flights for another six hours as well as the unstaffed yet equally well-branded desks of hometown airline, Air Pohang.

Unable to check in upon my arrival and with Air Pohang not having an online check-in function, once at the airport I had little to do. Inside, those finding themselves with time to spare in the landside area of the terminal can browse the airport’s collection of model aircraft, whilst two cafés, a restaurant and a convenience store can also be found in this part of the terminal. In spite of all of these, with two hours to go until my flight to Seoul Gimpo, the airport was missing one key demographic - passengers. Instead, an abundance of staff could be seen milling about, some with bored looks on their faces and others happily chatting away with their colleagues. To pass the time for an hour, I decided to head to one of the cafes where I bought a reasonably priced cappuccino costing 4000 won and did some work to pass the time.

Before I knew it an hour had passed and two workers donned in Air Pohang’s distinctive pink shirts appeared at the airline’s two check-in desks. Assuming that this meant that check-in was now open, I made my way over to the desk and with the terminal still largely devoid of passengers, I walked straight up to the counter where I was warmly greeted by both staff members in English. After greeting the check-in staff in Korean, handing over my passport, requesting a window seat and dropping my bag off, as with all Korean domestic flights, a receipt style boarding pass was printed off and I was handed a luggage card within a minute or so. According to the former I had been assigned seat 4A which coincidentally had been assigned to be on my previous flight with the airline six months’ prior.
After receiving my boarding pass, I headed up the escalators to the pre-security waiting area. Owing to the lack of facilities post-security, the security checkpoint at the airport does not open until thirty minutes prior to a flight’s departure and so some waiting was once again required. As time passed passengers began to arrive at the airport, checking in before heading up the escalators and taking a seat. However, the small handful of passengers undoubtedly fell far below the fifty required to fill a CRJ-200. At 1300 the security checkpoint opened and one-by-one passengers filtered through this, receiving a thorough check which included a scan with a wand, even for those who did not set any alarms off whilst passing through the metal detector. As with the landside area, airside Pohang Airport is spacious and clean, however as briefly mentioned this lacks any facilities bar toilets and televisions broadcasting the news as well as public safety messages.
Outside, several helicopters could be seen flying overhead whilst below our CRJ-200 could be seen being prepped ready for our flight to Gimpo at gate 4. This aircraft took the form of Bombardier CRJ-200ER HL8298. Manufactured at Bombardier’s Montréal Mirabel plant, this aircraft first took to the skies in 2003 with the test registration of C-FMMT, making it around 15.5 years old at the time of my flight. In August 2003, the aircraft received the Japanese registration of JA206J and commenced operations for Japan Airlines’ regional subsidiary, J-Air. Following fourteen years spent shuttling passengers around Japan, the aircraft entered storage in September 2017 with the Guernsey registration of 2-CFMM before being handed over to Air Pohang in January 2018.

Pohang Airport can be summarised as being an airfield of interest for your military aviation enthusiast. Home to the flying operations of the ROK Marines Corps who operate the even rarer variant of the rare KAI KUH-1 Surion helicopter, the amphibious MUH-1 Marineon as well as three naval air squadrons and a detachment of US Navy mine countermeasure Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters. Whilst such aircraft can be seen and heard buzzing overhead, surrounded by mounds on three sides, little action can be seen from the civilian ramp. Furthermore, whilst unlike at Gyeongbuk’s other major airport in Daegu which is also home to several squadrons of F-15 jets where there are signs clearing stating that photography is prohibited, these cannot be seen in Pohang’s terminal. Nevertheless, I would advise against taking photos of military aircraft at the airport, and I had discovered several months earlier, those passengers arriving and departing on Korean Air flights are informed not to take photographs at Pohang Airport.

As per the stated time, at 1315 an announcement was made inviting those passengers needing assistance to board the aircraft. Yet with no such fliers, this was soon followed by an announcement inviting all passengers to board. After having my boarding pass scanned and being thanked, I headed down the stairs and straight into the open air for the short walk across the apron. As I neared the aircraft, I noticed how it appeared to be in dire need of a wash with streaks of dirt covering the jet’s fuselage and I hoped that the interior would be somewhat cleaner. I soon climbed up the steps and entered the small cabin where I was given a warm greeting by one of the flight’s two cabin crew members. After checking my boarding pass, I was advised on the location of my seat before being welcomed by the second crew member who greeted passengers from the first row. As with many of Korea’s airlines, the airline plays music during embarkation and disembarkation, this taking the form of classical music which adds a nice touch.

Despite being a little old fashioned, my first impressions of the cabin were good. Aside from the heavy scratches of the box-like windows, there were few signs of wear and tear and the cabin appeared to have been well-cleaned after its previous flight. The aircraft’s beige leather seats were comfortable and well padded, although as expected from this regional jet, the legroom was not fantastic but it was also not terrible and so I could find little reason to complain about these. Each seatback pocket featured an Air Pohang branded safety card and sickbag. With a grand total of 16 passengers, boarding was completed by 1320 and the cabin door was shut almost immediately after the last passenger had entered the cabin. Unlike Korean Air’s services between Pohang and the capital which in my experience act as a corporate shuttle with few non-business flyers on board, the demographic of both this flight and my previous flight with Air Pohang was somewhat more leisurely. Unsurprisingly given the day of the week (a Monday) and the time of day, over half on board appeared to be over sixty. With plenty of empty seats, I asked one of the cabin crew members whether it would be possible to move – my request was granted and I thus moved to seat 7D which would allow me good views of Seoul in case we made a landing into the west. After noticing that I had moved to this row, the same cabin crew member informed me that these seats did not recline.

After a four minute pause, the boarding music was interrupted by the purser’s welcome announcement in Korean and English informing passengers of the usual details including flight time and weather in Seoul, the standard advice regarding keeping seatbelts fastened throughout the flight and, unfortunately as seems to be done on all Korean airlines, a warning regarding bad behaviour on board. As the crew member neared the end of their welcome announcement, the aircraft quickly pushed back before pausing which was followed by the two General Electric CF34-3B1 engines made a quiet-ish start. As the engines fired into life the crew performed a manual safety demonstration in the cabin, ending shortly after we commenced our quick taxi to runway 10.
At 1332, with no pause our aircraft taxied onto the active runway and commenced a rolling takeoff. With a light load, this was unsurprisingly powerful and we made a quick rotation into the partially cloudy skies. Once we passed by the terminal and Pohang VOR, the aircraft made a gentle turn to the north before the tip of Homigot – the nation’s most eastern point and thus popular new year’s sunrise location came into view. The aircraft then headed inland, passing over a portion of Pohang before the clouds took our view.

A short time after take-off - six minutes to be exact, the seatbelt signs were switched off and the crew sprung out of their seats in preparation to commence the inflight service. As an LCC, Air Pohang’s inflight service consists of nothing other than an Air Pohang branded paper cup of water and a serviette – the drink being a slight downgrade in service when compared to the orange juice offered on my first trip with the airline. Given the basic nature of this and the relatively empty cabin, this was completed within a couple of minutes before the crew retired to the forward galley, only to emerge as we neared Seoul.

At 1345, Captain Jeong performed his welcome announcement in Korean and English, giving a short briefing on the weather in Gimpo, our expected arrival time and reiterating the importance of keeping seat belts fastened whilst seated. With little to do given the airline’s lack of an inflight magazine and with the clouds still blocking our view of the peninsula below, I decided to make a trip to the toilet located at the rear of the cabin.From a passenger perspective, the location of this is perhaps the only factor that differentiates the airline’s two aircraft. On the aircraft’s CRJ-200ER this is located at the very rear of the cabin and is a little larger, whilst onboard their CRJ-200LR this is located at the rear but still within the passenger cabin of the aircraft and is a little more cramped. Whilst small, the toilet served its purpose and was stocked with tissues and soap, however some may take issue with the toilet’s amateur looking handwritten sign although this was not reason enough to complain about this for me. Upon returning to my seat I was delighted to see that the clouds had opened up revealing Korea’s mountainous terrain around the Woraksan National Park – an area I had hoped to go hike the previous week however I had cancelled the trip owing to wet weather. After this Jecheon came into view before passing by the city of Chungju which I was able to recognise by its rivers and air base which is home to several squadrons of KF-16 fighters.

After ten minutes of flying over mostly rural Korea, at 1357 our aircraft could be felt commencing its descent whilst one crew member returned to the cabin to collect passengers’ rubbish. After flying parallel with the Namhan River passing by towns such as Yeoju and Gwanju (not the major city), Seoul’s world-famous Gangnam District came into view on the horizon whilst in the cabin seat belt signs were turned back on and the crew announced that we would land in ten minutes. We soon passed over Gwanaksan – one of my favourite mountains to hike in Seoul as well as the campus of Korea’s best university, Seoul National before the landing gear was retracted and flaps extended. With central Seoul and the Han River on the horizon, we sank lower, passing over Guro and the main rail line out of Seoul as well as the endless rows of near-identical tower blocks.

At 1412 our aircraft passed over the perimeter fence and dived towards runway 32L, coming back to earth with a significant bump which was followed by some very heavy braking. After passing by one of the locally based Korean Coast Guard CASA 235s, our aircraft taxied off the runway, pausing immediately to allow for the smoky departure of one of Korean Air Business Jet’s Bombardier Global Express aircraft which appeared to be off to Muan to do some circuits at the quiet airport. After this, we taxied across runway 32R, eventually arriving at stand 140 ten minutes after our aircraft’s landing.

Our engines quickly spooled down and the doors were opened quickly. As a bus was already waiting on stand upon our arrival, disembarkation commenced quickly. After thanking the crew members I headed onto the apron and into the awaiting bus which soon departed for the terminal. On our way, we passed by Air Pohang’s other aircraft which was surrounded by mechanics, indicating that the previous day’s cancellations had been due to some technical fault with that aircraft. At 1429 the bus pulled up to the terminal and no more than a minute later the bags from our flight began arriving on one of the carousels. No more than ten minutes after arriving on stand, I was able to collect my bag and walk out into the airport’s domestic arrival area.

Summary
Overall, Air Pohang offered a very standard Korean domestic flight experience albeit in a smaller-than-usual aircraft. The crew were pleasant enough, the aircraft was clean and comfortable and we made an on time arrival into Gimpo Airport. I also have nothing negative to say with regards to my experience at Pohang Airport. Whilst the train may deliver passengers to central Seoul and is slightly quicker when travelling to and from the centres of each city, Air Pohang is perhaps a more convenient option for those travelling between Pohang and Korea’s third largest city, Incheon and, for aviation enthusiasts provides an interesting way to travel between the two regions of Korea. However, unfortunately I will never fly the airline again, as a little over two weeks after I flew with the carrier they operated their final service.