Air Seoul Inc., one of South Korea's six low-cost carriers, said Tuesday it will begin flights to Kalibo in December as part of its initial expansion strategy.
The new route to the Philippines comes as Air Seoul, which started operations in October last year, expands its overseas operations. Having first begun with flights to Takamatsu, the airline currently serves 13 international routes, mainly to Japan and Southeast Asia.
The company said there is no domestic budget carrier that offers flights on the Kalibo route, from where tourists can gain easy access to the scenic Boracay Island.
It plans to add two additional routes to Tokyo and Hong Kong on Oct. 31 and increase its fleet to five A321 jets by the end of the year from the current four, it said.
Air Seoul is a 46 percent-owned budget unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., the country's second-biggest carrier after Korean Air Lines Co.
Korean passenger carriers have diversified their routes to offset a sharp decline in travel demand from China amid ongoing political tensions between the two countries over the deployment of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea to deter North Korean provocations.
In March, Beijing banned the sale of group travel packages to South Korea in retaliation against the deployment, which it argues is aimed at spying on its military.
