Air Busan to resume flights to Qingdao on biz demand

(Air Busan Co.)

Air Busan Co., the budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Tuesday it will resume flights to the Chinese city of Qingdao in mid-October to meet travel demand from businessmen.

Air Busan plans to offer one flight a week on the Busan-Qingdao route from Oct. 15 after suspending the route for more than seven months due to the coronavirus impact on the airline industry, the company said in a statement.

In July, the carrier resumed the Incheon-Shenzhen route, but other Chinese routes to Ningbo, Chengdu, Qingdao, Yanji, Zhangjiajie, Xian, Hainan, and Haikou remain suspended.

Hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, Air Busan‘s net losses widened to 105.57 billion won ($90 million) in the January-June period from 23.1 billion won a year earlier.

It plans to raise 89 billion won in a rights offering in December to secure operating capital amid a prolonged virus crisis.

Asiana Airlines Inc., which holds a controlling 44 percent stake in the low-cost carrier, will inject 30 billion won into the rights issue. (Yonhap)