South Korean airlines are normalizing their suspended or scaled-back flight services caused by the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome as its spread is showing signs of subsiding in recent weeks, company officials said Tuesday.
  

In the wake of the MERS outbreak in late May, Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. temporarily halted or reduced dozens of flights to neighboring countries including China and Japan due to a drop in passengers.
  

The major airlines are now pushing to put all the affected flights back in service as the country has reported no additional cases of MERS for more than two weeks, raising hopes that the spread of the virus is coming to an end.
  

Korean Air, the country's largest flag carrier, plans to normalize all its suspended flight services starting earlier next month. It has already resumed its flights bound for Narita, Kagoshima, Aomori and Okayama, with flights bound for Komatsu to be back in service on Aug. 2.
  

Some of its China-bound flights, including the Incheon-Nanning and Jeju-Guiyang routes, are expected to be normalized from mid-August, company officials said.
  

Asiana Airlines, the No. 2 flag carrier, also followed suit by planning to resume all of its affected flights from early August except a few bound for China. The Incheon-Haneda route will be back in service starting Aug. 7.
  

Eastar Jet Co., a local budget carrier, has joined the two major airlines by resuming its flights bound for Shanghai, Dalian and Harbin on Tuesday.
  

In a bid to brace for a spike in passengers during the summer vacation season, the budget carrier also said that it has launched the Incheon-Phuket route, while planning to expand its flights for Osaka, Bangkok and Kota Kinabalu until end-August. (Yonhap)