BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(BUSAN = Yonhap News) Air Busan Co., one of South Korea's top three budget carriers, said Thursday it will expand its coverage of China routes by arranging more ad hoc flights on demand in 2014.

The subsidiary of Asiana Airlines Inc. said it plans to operate nonscheduled flight services to 13 Chinese cities to meet steady passenger demand. Such a move can circumvent restrictions placed by Beijing on regular scheduled flights by foreign carriers. Beijing at present only allows leeway to foreign airliners who fly into Shandong and Hainan provinces.

Air Busan said that as part of the expansion this year, it arranged a nonscheduled flight to Zhangjiajie last week. It said the 32 flights it sent to the city in south central China in 2013 reported an average seat occupancy rate of 95 percent.

A flight from Busan, the company's operating hub, to the Chinese city of Guilin is scheduled for Thursday, with nonscheduled air services to Shijiazhuang, Wuhan, Ningbo and Changsha being pursued in the first half of this year.

For the second half, the low cost carrier said it wants to send planes to Qinhuangdao, Changchun and several other tourist destinations.

"Flights will be arranged to reflect popularity of tourist sites in China that South Koreans want to visit," a company official said. He added that average seat occupancy rate to Chinese cities serviced by Air Busan was over 90 percent, showing the growth potential in the routes.

The carrier has 11 passenger jets in its fleet.

yonngong@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Feb. 6, 2014)