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The country's largest budget carrier, Jeju Air, will launch flights to Taipei and Kaohsiung from Jeju Island and from Korea's southeastern port city of Busan starting October.
The airline will start the Jeju-Taipei route Oct. 2, flying twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday, while the Jeju-Kaohsiung route will be operated twice a week on Thursday and Sunday starting Oct. 3.
Starting Oct. 2, five weekly flights will operate on the Busan-Kaohsiung route on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
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| A Jeju Air aircraft |
The additional routes to Taiwan are expected to boost tourism between the two nations.
According to Korea Airport Corp. (KAC), about 628,000 Koreans traveled to Taiwan between January and July this year, a 10.2 percent surge from 570,000 people during the same period last year.
Taiwanese tourists visiting Korea also jumped 11.6 percent during the period compared to last year.
Celebrating the launch of the two routes, the airline is holding major promotions. The price of a one-way ticket for flight departing from Jeju to Taipei or Kaohsiung starts from 67,800 won ($57) and from Busan to Kaohsiung, from 62,800 won. The promotion will run through Sept. 30 for flights departing between Oct. 2 and 26.
Singapore Airlines boost seat capacity
Singapore Airlines' (SIA) regional wing, SilkAir, will transfer its services in Busan to SIA, starting Oct. 28. The move comes as the airline prepares to better meet rising demand.
Following the changeover, the airline will be able to increase seat capacity by 76 percent by upgrading to a larger aircraft.
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| Singapore Airlines' Airbus A330 |
The carrier will operate 285-seat Airbus A330-330s, which each include 30 Business Class and 255 Economy Class seats.
The A330s can accommodate up to 123 more passengers than SilkAir's Boeing 737-800, which currently operates on the Singapore-Busan route.
SIA will operate flights to Busan four times a week, maintaining SilkAir's current frequency.
"Demand for SilkAir's Busan flights since the launch of the route on May 1 has been very encouraging, and it has proven to be another popular gateway into Korea, complementing SIA's services to Seoul. We look forward to helping further grow travel to and from Korea with the increase in capacity that SIA's larger aircraft can provide on the route," said Tan Kai Ping, senior vice president of marketing planning at SIA.
In addition, SIA's budget carrier subsidiary Scoot operates a total of 31 weekly flights from Seoul.
