Eastar Jet Opens Incheon Xiamen Access Oct 28

Eastar Jet plans to start four-times-weekly flights between Seoul Incheon and Xiamen Gaoqi on October 28, 2026, according to the carrier’s September 3 announcement reported by Herald Business. The first Korea to Fujian link on this low-cost network is the nearest dated booking change for travelers who have been waiting on Eastar Jet’s 2026 China rights.

If you need Incheon to Xiamen this winter, treat October 28 as the first saleable departure and match the four weekly days before you lock a hotel or a connecting train. Passengers using Seoul’s main gateway should also review the Incheon Airport Terminal 2 transfer guide for arrival, bag, and rail timing even when the exact Eastar Jet check-in hall is confirmed later on the ticket.

The October 28 Incheon to Xiamen Schedule

Herald Business reported that Eastar Jet will open Incheon to Xiamen four times a week on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from October 28. That is the first of the four China routes the airline described in early September, and it is the date a Seoul-based traveler can actually place on a calendar.

AeroRoutes later published a Northern winter 2026/27 schedule filing that keeps that Incheon launch: ZE891 Incheon 9:30 a.m. to Xiamen 12:05 p.m., and ZE892 Xiamen 12:55 p.m. to Incheon 5:10 p.m., on a 737-800. The day-of-week code in that file (not Monday, Tuesday, or Friday) matches the four days in the September announcement.

Those times are Korea and China local. The block is about three hours 35 minutes eastbound in the file. Do not treat the clock as a gate-to-gate promise until Eastar Jet posts the operating timetable in its own booking path, because airlines still trim minutes when slots or taxi times change.

Days, Flight Numbers, and Aircraft

The useful booking unit is the four-day week, not a daily bank. A traveler who can only fly Monday or Friday does not yet have an Eastar Jet nonstop on this city pair from the current file. Korean Air and XiamenAir already sell other Incheon to Xiamen times, so the Eastar Jet product is extra frequency and a low-cost cabin, not the only way to make the trip.

AeroRoutes lists the aircraft as a 737-800, which is the same family Eastar Jet already flies on many short-haul international sectors. That matters for seat pitch, bag rules, and whether a traveler who wanted a widebody should look elsewhere. It does not, on its own, tell you the fare bucket or whether a seat sale is open today.

Confirm the flight numbers ZE891 and ZE892 in the airline’s booking engine before you attach a nonrefundable hotel. Schedule filings move, and a codeshare display can show a different marketing number even when the operating metal stays Eastar Jet.

Later China Dates Still on Eastar Jet’s List

The September 3 announcement also listed Busan to Xiamen from October 29, Cheongju to Xiamen from December 2, and Busan to Hangzhou from December 3. AeroRoutes then recorded a later filing that shifted the planned Busan to Xiamen service onto the Incheon to Xiamen four-weekly pattern. Do not buy Busan to Xiamen on Eastar Jet from that early press list until the airline’s own schedule shows it again.

Seoul Economic Daily’s October 4 recap still names the Incheon to Xiamen launch on the 28th of this month and a Busan to Hangzhou service in December, and it says the carrier wants six new China routes by year-end after Incheon to Hohhot started in August. Hangzhou from Busan is therefore the cleaner second date to watch if you are originating in Yeongnam rather than Seoul.

Herald Business said the airline will keep converting the rest of its April China traffic rights on a rolling basis through March 2027. That window is planning, not a ticket. Put October 28 and the December Hangzhou date on the trip file first; treat March 2027 as a rights deadline, not a flight.

Rights, Rivals, and Booking Checks

Eastar Jet received China international traffic rights from South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in April, including Incheon to Xiamen among 11 awards, Herald Business reported. The October 28 start is the conversion of one of those awards into a published winter schedule, which is the step that changes a search from “maybe” to “book or wait.”

Aju Press quoted an Eastar Jet spokesman saying the new routes are meant to give Korean travelers more China options and to pull more Chinese visitors the other way. That is the commercial intent. The traveler action is narrower: compare Eastar Jet’s four weekly Incheon banks against Korean Air and XiamenAir, then decide whether a Wednesday or Saturday departure is worth a low-cost ticket.

Other Korean low-cost carriers are adding China metal in the same season. Seoul Economic Daily notes Parata Air’s Incheon to Shenzhen plan from November 9 and Jin Air’s Incheon to Yichang increase from October 12. Those are separate streams. They only show that Incheon to China inventory is expanding.

For a longer Incheon-China planning horizon, Deep Arrival already tracks the next rights round in the summer 2027 Incheon China flights briefing. Use that page for 2027 talk. Use this page for the October 28 Xiamen start.

Airline hubs on this site sit under the airlines guide when you need a carrier page after the ticket is chosen. Eastar Jet does not yet have its own evergreen profile there, so Incheon process pages remain the practical next click.

Xiamen as a Fujian Gateway

Xiamen Gaoqi is the coastal Fujian city many Korea-based travelers use for island links, factory visits, and onward China flying. A four-weekly low-cost nonstop from Incheon is most useful for a two- or three-night stay that lines up with Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday, not for a midweek business hop that only works on Monday.

Build the ground plan around the 12:05 p.m. filed arrival. That is an afternoon start in Xiamen, which is enough for a hotel check-in and a first meeting if immigration is ordinary, and tight if you need a same-day flight to another Chinese city. Return at 12:55 p.m. lands you in Incheon at 5:10 p.m. in the file, which is an evening Korea arrival with limited slack for a same-night domestic connection.

Do not assume Eastar Jet is the cheapest until you price the same week on Korean Air and XiamenAir. Do assume the new days will be the ones that sell out first around Korean holidays, because four weekly flights are easy to fill. If your dates miss those four days, keep a legacy carrier in the comparison set instead of waiting for a fifth Eastar Jet frequency that has not been filed.