Jeju Air Co., South Korea's largest low-cost carrier, said Wednesday that it will launch four new flights bound for nearby Asian cities in the first half of the year as part of efforts to meet growing demand.

Jeju Air, owned by Aekyung Industrial Co., will launch flights between the southeastern city of Daegu and Beijing on Feb. 13, while providing flights between the second-largest city of Busan and Osaka, Fukuoka and Taipei in April.

Jeju Air is the first low-cost carrier that provides flights bound for Beijing, a move it expects would secure a foothold in China to strengthen its marketing efforts there.

The airliner also said that it will resume its Incheon-Weihai and Incheon-Shijiazhuang and Busan-Shijiazhuang flights from March after they were on hold either due to construction at local airports or lack of demand.

For the existing Incheon-Saipan route, Jeju Air plans to double the number of flights to 14 times a week from March. It will also increase the flights between Busan and Guam from two times a week to four times.

When the expansion plan is completed, Jeju Air said that it will provide a total of 25 flights bound for 18 cities in seven countries. Including domestic services, it will operate flights on 29 routes. (Yonhap)