Air Busan Co., a budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Thursday it will open the Incheon-Vladivostok route in February to meet business travel demand.  

Air Busan will offer flights to the Russian far eastern port city every two weeks from Feb. 5, the company said in a statement.

"There is a growing outbound travel demand to Vladivostok for business purposes. Passenger travel demand is also expected to rise once the COVID-19 pandemic slows down," the statement said.

On top of five domestic routes, the company currently offers flights on two international routes from the southern port city of Busan to Guam and Qingdao, sharply down from 25 international routes before the pandemic hit the airline industry.

It has 25 A321 chartered planes but half of them are parked due to the prolonged pandemic. (Yonhap)