Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's second-largest flag carrier, said Wednesday that it will reduce its flights to Saipan as part of efforts to address a plane shortfall caused by the recent resumption of its Hiroshima route that was temporarily halted following a hard landing accident in Japan.

The Asiana Airlines Flight 162, carrying 73 passengers and seven crew members, came to a stop after veering off the runway, as it tried to land in the Hiroshima Airport on April 14. The Airbus

320 passenger plane departed from Incheon International Airport in South Korea.

No passengers were seriously injured and investigation has been under way to figure out the exact cause of the landing issues. The Airbus 320 plane remains not in service pending investigation.

As Asiana Airlines resumed the flight -- once a day -- to Hiroshima on April 30, it said that it needs to bring in a new airplane to be deployed for the route.

To fill the void, the air carrier decided to reduce flights to Saipan from twice a day to once and deployed an Airbus 320 operating for the service in the Incheon-Hiroshima route.

Over the past weeks, Asiana Airlines has been depending on any available airplanes in service for other routes, including those for Narita and Hong Kong, to provide the flight service for Hiroshima.

The adjusted flight schedule will go into effect on May 28.

"We cannot keep borrowing planes from other routes. As the peak season is approaching, we've made the decision (on the flight reduction in the Saipan route) to offer a more stable service for our customers," an Asiana Airlines official said.

Asiana Airlines said that it is contacting about 500 passengers who booked flights for the Saipan route after May 28 for rescheduling or a refund but only half of them have reportedly agreed to the change, industry sources said. (Yonhap)