CHUNGCHEONGBUK-DO < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(CHEONGJU=Yonhap News) Russia's Yakutia Airlines will open weekly air routes to South Korea early next month to accommodate a growing number of tourists, a provincial government official said Friday.

The Russian airline will fly a 101-seat flight from Cheongju International Airport to the Russian Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk on Wednesday, the official from the North Chungcheong provincial government said.

Yakutia Airlines will also launch a weekly air route linking Cheongju airport and Vladivostok starting April 8.

The weekly flights on Wednesdays to Khabarovsk and Saturdays to Vladivostok will continue through December.

It is the first time in six years that Cheongju airport will handle international flights to non-Chinese cities.

An air route between Cheongju and Japan's Osaka was suspended in March 2011 due to a lack of passengers.

The provincial government expects the new air routes will help revive the local tourism industry dampened by the falling number of Chinese tourists after the diplomatic row over South Korea's deployment of a U.S. missile defense system on its soil despite China's opposition.

Six out of eight air routes to Chinese cities from Cheongju have been suspended in the past months.

"We will try hard to help the new air routes to Russia get established as soon as possible," a North Chungcheong provincial government official said.

hdh@yna.co.kr

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