Private Jet for Seollal and Chuseok 2027, Leaving From Gimpo

Seollal 2027: four days off, Tokyo two hours from Gimpo

The Seollal break runs from Saturday 6 to Tuesday 9 February 2027, and Chuseok from 14 to 16 September. From Gimpo, 16 km (10 miles) from Seoul City Hall, a private jet reaches Tokyo in around 2h00 and Bangkok in around 5h00. What decides the trip is paperwork: a charter on a foreign-registered jet needs a Korean transport ministry permit filed at least 10 days ahead, and Gimpo bars take-offs and landings from 23:00 to 06:00, two constraints our Bangkok office builds into the booking. Request a quote for your Seollal departure, answered within the hour.

The 2027 calendar: 6 to 9 February, then 14 to 16 September

The Korea AeroSpace Administration published the 2027 almanac on 29 June 2026. Seollal falls on a Sunday, so a substitute holiday is added on Tuesday 9 February, giving four days off, Saturday included. Chuseok lands on Wednesday 15 September, with the holiday from Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16.

Taking 10 to 12 February off turns Seollal into nine days, from 6 to 14 February. Chuseok needs two days of leave, Monday 13 and Friday 17 September, for a break from Saturday 11 to Sunday 19.

Destinations feel it first. In Hong Kong the lunar year opens a day earlier, on Saturday 6 February, according to the Hong Kong Observatory calendar, because the new moon falls at 23:56 there and at 00:56 on the 7th in Seoul. Chinese New Year and Seollal share one week, and the same airports.

Two hours to Tokyo, five to Bangkok: flight times and hourly rates

No route from Seoul has a fixed fare: each flight is priced by the hour, in the category that distance and party size call for, as our private jet charter rates set out. Times are calculated from Gimpo and vary with the aircraft and the winds.

Three generations rarely fit in seven seats. The Challenger 350 seats nine and flies up to six hours non stop, enough for Bangkok or Koh Samui. Phuket sits at the edge of that endurance: with a full cabin or a strong headwind, we quote a heavy jet such as the Falcon 2000, ten seats.

Europe is different: European operators avoid Russian airspace, and the southern routing adds well over an hour to the 11h15 of the direct line. A Global 7500 covers it non stop, where a smaller long range jet may need a technical stop.

Why these weeks fill up: 231,010 passengers a day at Incheon

Incheon handled 1,386,057 passengers over the 2026 Seollal break, from 13 to 18 February: 231,010 a day, an all-time record for a holiday or a peak season. On Saturday 14 February, 247,104 passengers went through, the first day above 240,000 since the airport opened in 2001. Southeast Asia (28.4%) and Japan (28.2%) took the largest shares of international traffic.

At the other end, the Sapporo Snow Festival runs from 4 to 11 February 2027, across the whole Seollal break, and New Chitose serves both Sapporo and Niseko. Airports of Thailand expected more than 4.1 million passengers at its six airports, Phuket included, over Chinese New Year 2026 (13 to 22 February), so we request the destination slot and parking stand the day your dates are set.

Gimpo closes at 23:00, Incheon never does

Gimpo is Seoul's business aviation airport, home to the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center described on our Seoul by private jet page. The Korean AIP keeps its international traffic for business aircraft (nothing above 50 seats or 2,721 kg of maximum payload) and bars take-offs and landings between 23:00 and 06:00. Operators must also confirm a parking stand at least a day before the flight. We make that call ourselves.

Incheon, 49 km (30 miles) from City Hall, operates 24 hours a day, customs included: it takes late arrivals, and the airliner chartered for a large group that Gimpo turns away. Its slots are coordinated, business flights included, and the AIP offers visiting aircraft no hangar. On 2 September 2026, its operator confirmed that Incheon still has no business aviation complex, and announced a tender for the second half of the year.

Organise your Seollal or Chuseok flight to or from Seoul with IBC Aviation

We have no office in Korea: your file is run by our team in Bangkok, two hours behind Seoul. It files the permit (10 days before a charter on a foreign-registered aircraft, two days before a private flight, under the Korean AIP), confirms the Gimpo stand, requests the Incheon slot when needed and books the slot at the other end. Haneda and New Chitose allocate business aviation slots month by month, as our guide to Japan by private jet details.

Tell us your dates and who is travelling, grandparents and children included: our Bangkok office proposes an aircraft and a filing timetable. If the jet has to fly back empty after dropping you off, we say so, because that return leg is then offered as an empty leg flight.

Japan or Thailand for Seollal, Koh Samui for Chuseok

February is peak powder season in Niseko, and high season in Phuket, from November to April, where the airport runs around the clock with a private terminal of its own. A week split between Thailand and Japan adds the Bangkok to Tokyo leg, around 6h05.

Chuseok redraws the map. Mid-September falls inside the south-west monsoon, which soaks the Andaman coast from May to October while the Gulf of Thailand stays dry. Koh Samui is then the better answer, with two limits: a 2,100 m runway, and an airport that closes at 22:00. For a non-stop return to Seoul, we calculate the take-off weight on that runway before quoting.

Entry is simple for Korean nationals. An ordinary Korean passport is visa exempt for 90 days in Japan and in Thailand, according to the Korean foreign ministry. In Thailand those 90 days rest on a bilateral agreement, left untouched by the 15 September 2026 reform that cut the general exemption to 30 days. Each passenger still files the Thailand Digital Arrival Card within three days before arrival.

Flying home for the holidays: land at Gimpo before 23:00

Many families travel the other way, from Singapore (around 6h10 from Gimpo) or Dubai (around 8h55), to spend Seollal with the grandparents. The landing time sets the take-off time: an aircraft that would reach Gimpo after 23:00 lands at Incheon instead, or leaves earlier, and we build the schedule backwards from that closing hour.

A second rule matters when the family lives outside Seoul. Under article 101 of the Korean Aviation Safety Act, a foreign-registered aircraft cannot fly between two Korean cities, Seoul and Jeju for instance, without a transport ministry permit. We then land the international flight directly at the family's city when its airport handles international traffic, or arrange the domestic leg on a Korean-registered aircraft.

For a charter leaving on 6 February 2027 on a foreign-registered jet, the Korean permit is due by 27 January: send us your Seollal dates.

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Frequently asked questions

How much does a private jet from Seoul cost for Seollal?

There is no fixed fare from Seoul: flights are priced by the hour. Allow from EUR 4,000 per hour in a light jet to Tokyo, around 2h00 from Gimpo, and from EUR 5,500 per hour in a super midsize to Bangkok, around 5h00. The quote includes the Korean permit and the parking stands.

How long is the flight from Seoul to Tokyo, Sapporo or Bangkok?

Around 2h00 from Gimpo to Tokyo-Haneda, 2h15 to Sapporo-New Chitose for Niseko, 5h00 to Bangkok, 5h30 to Koh Samui and 5h50 to Phuket, depending on aircraft and winds. Towards Geneva or Paris, avoiding Russian airspace, allow around 12h35 to 12h55.

When are Seollal and Chuseok in 2027?

Seollal falls on Sunday 7 February 2027, and the holiday runs from Saturday 6 to Tuesday 9 February, substitute holiday included. Chuseok falls on Wednesday 15 September, with the holiday from Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16, according to the almanac of the Korea AeroSpace Administration.

Can a private jet take off from Gimpo at night?

No. The Korean AIP bars take-offs and landings at Gimpo from 23:00 to 06:00, emergencies aside. Incheon, 49 km from Seoul City Hall, operates 24 hours a day with customs, but its slots are coordinated and it has no business aviation complex yet.

Do Korean passport holders need a visa for Japan or Thailand?

Not for a short stay. An ordinary Korean passport is visa exempt for 90 days in Japan and in Thailand, where a bilateral agreement keeps the 90 days after the 15 September 2026 reform. Each passenger files the Thailand Digital Arrival Card within three days before landing.