Air Busan to fly to Fukuoka, Osaka

Air Busan, one of the country`s budget air carriers, will start operating international flights starting early next year, a top official of the company said yesterday.

"We will start to fly to Fukuoka on March 29 from Busan and to Osaka on April 26 on a daily basis," Kim Soo-cheon, president and CEO of the low-cost carrier, said during a press conference held in Seoul. It will code-share with Asiana Airlines, the country`s second-largest air carrier.



The demand for air travel is growing in Busan, the country`s second-largest city, as it expands cultural and business ties with the two Japanese cities, he said.

It will take about 50 minutes to fly to Fukuoka from Busan and one hour and 20 minutes to Osaka, Kim explained. The air carrier expects to get 1 billion won ($856,000) in annual revenue from the new routes.

The carrier, partly owned by Asiana Airlines, currently operates domestic flights - Busan to Gimpo and Busan to Jeju - with five aircraft since October 2008.

To start international operations, the low-cost carrier plans to have one B737-400 flight in February.

The ticket price will be set between 150,000 won and 170,000 won, 30 percent lower than major air carriers.

Air Busan expects to reach 73 billion won on sales this year with negative 5 billion won for the current account. It hopes to see profit in 2011, Kim said.

(christory@heraldm.com)



By Cho chung-un