Major low-cost carriers (LCCs) are struggling with a slow recovery in passenger routes to China, compounded by ongoing financial pressures from high exchange rates and oil prices, according to data and industry officials on Sunday.

The concern grows as Jeju Air, T’way Air, and Jin Air, the top three LCCs in the country, experienced a significant drop in earnings during the second quarter.

As macroeconomic uncertainty is forecast to prevail in the latter half of this year, major LCCs are facing a growing dilemma over the weak profitability of their routes to China.

According to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of passengers from Korea to China topped 7.59 million between January and July this year. The figure accounts for merely 73 percent of the figure during the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the global aviation lockdown.

This contrasts with LCCs’ major cash-cow routes, such as Japan and other Southeast Asian countries. Data from the ministry’s aviation information portal 추천 showed that the number of passengers who took international flights in July came in at 7.67 million, which is equivalent to 96.4 percent of four years ago.

The figure for Japan reached 2.09 million, up 16.9 percent during the same period.

The declining demand for China routes is a major concern for LCCs, which need to ensure profitable growth after the latest earnings shock.

T’way reported its largest operating loss of 21.5 billion won ($15.87 million) in the second quarter among Korean LCCs. Jeju Air also ended up incurring an operating loss of 9.5 billion won during the same period. Jin Air chalked up an operating profit of just 900 million won, but the airline also reported a net loss of 5.9 billion won during the period.

An airline official said, “Even if most LCCs do not have any immediate plans to give up the route to China, the weak passenger recovery to Asia’s largest economy still comes as a downside risk to them at a time when the industry faces a drastic reshuffle soon after the upcoming merger of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.”