[THE INVESTOR] Korean Air's budget carrier affiliate Jin Air will later this year launch a flight service to Cairns, a holiday destination on the northeast coast of Australia, the low-cost carrier of Korean Air said June 28.

The airline said that it will deploy its B777-200ER aircraft equipped with 393 seats on the Incheon-Cairns route twice a week for about two months, starting Dec. 14.

It will decide whether to keep the route after the temporary service is over.

Australia is a popular holiday destination for South Koreans. About 251,600 South Koreans visited Australia between March 2015 and April 2016, up 17.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Australian government.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)