Fly Gangwon, Korea's first LCC to collapse, went bankrupt 3.5 years in

Fly Gangwon was founded in April 2016 as Fly Yangyang, a low-cost carrier based at Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon Province, South Korea. It received its air operator's certificate in 2019, rebranded as Fly Gangwon, and launched its first commercial flight — from Yangyang to Jeju — on November 22, 2019. The airline operated Boeing 737-800s to destinations across Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, with the ambition of turning Yangyang into a regional aviation hub.

The timing was catastrophic. Fly Gangwon had been flying for barely four months when COVID-19 shut down international travel. The airline never built up a cash reserve or a domestic network large enough to survive the pandemic. It accumulated a deficit of approximately 40 billion won (about $30 million). Gangwon Province provided 14.5 billion won in financial support, but the airline could not recover. It defaulted on aircraft lease payments and began losing planes.

On May 19, 2023, Fly Gangwon suspended all operations and filed for court receivership — becoming the first South Korean low-cost carrier to cease operations entirely. The airline had delayed 900 million won in wages for 30 employees. Former CEO Joo Won-seok was later indicted for violating the Labor Standards Act and sentenced to two years in prison with probation. The rehabilitation court concluded proceedings early in October 2024. Winix, a Korean home appliance manufacturer, acquired the airline and rebranded it as Parata Air in 2025.