Jeju Air Inc., South Korea's top budget carrier, said Tuesday it will open a route between Incheon and Taipei in May to meet rising demand for air travel to the neighboring country.

The Incheon-Taipei route will be the second Taipei line operated by Jeju Air. The budget carrier already runs the Busan-Taipei route that flies seven times a week since April last year.

"After obtaining government approval late last year, we are in preparations for kicking the route off on May 1," Jeju Air spokeswoman Yuhn Ye-il said by phone.

The number of South Korean tourists to Taiwan came to 589,200 in the first 11 months of last year, up from 242,900 for the whole of 2011, according to travel data from the Korea Tourism Organization.

Jeju Air currently operates international routes to 25 major cities in Japan, China and Southeast Asia. From May 1, it also plans to increase the number of flights on the Incheon-Narita route to 21 per week from 14.

Jeju Air, which earns nearly 70 percent of its overall sales from international routes, posted 47.2 billion won ($38.3 million) in net profit last year, up 47 percent from 32 billion won a year earlier. Operating profit soared 74 percent year-on-year to 51.4 billion won on sales of 608.1 billion won.

"Sharp declines in oil prices helped Jeju Air spend far less on jet fuel last year. Increased international routes also bolstered its bottom line," Yoon said.

Aekyung Group, a cosmetics-to-healthcare conglomerate, has a controlling 67.5 percent stake in Jeju Air, with the Jeju provincial government holding a 3.9 percent interest and individuals owning the remainder. (Yonhap)