À̹ÌÁö È®´ë (fourth from left) Air Seoul CEO Ryu Kwang-hee with employees
Air Seoul, late-comer budget carrier run by South Korea¡¯s No.2 full-service carrier Asiana Airlines Inc., will start servicing flights to Tokyo and Osaka, Hong Kong, and Guam this fall.
The low-cost carrier launched its first international flight in October last year and currently flies a fleet of three aircrafts to eight cities in Japan and three destinations in Southeast Asia. The company will deploy two more aircrafts in the second half of this year to add four destinations - Guam and Osaka from September 12 and Hong Kong and Tokyo from October 31.
The carrier will add two aircrafts each year, said Air Seoul Chief Executive Ryu Kwang-hee during an event announcing the launch of new services on Thursday. He said that the company would provide routes to China and expand to other Asian destinations starting with the Philippines early next year.
The fledgling budget carrier hopes to make profit from next year through route additions with the aim to pose formidable competition to the exiting LCC players within the next five years.
The airliner also pins hope in its exclusive flights to smaller cities in Japan, Ryu said.
By Kim Jung-hwan
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