Jeju Air Co., South Korea's biggest low-cost carrier, said Tuesday it will open a new route between the country's third-biggest city and Tokyo in late October to strengthen its services.

The move is part of the budget carrier's broad efforts to diversify routes for customers in cities away from Seoul, the airline said in a statement.

A Jeju Air B737-800NG passenger jet (Yonhap)

The Daegu-Tokyo services will start on Oct. 28, with flights scheduled on a daily basis, it said.

Out of 51 international routes operated by Jeju Air, 19 link provincial airports such as Gimhae, Muan, Daegu and Cheongju with foreign destinations, the company said.

In the first half of 2018, Jeju Air's net profit jumped 66 percent to 54 billion won (US$48 million) from 32.31 billion won a year earlier. Operating profit rose 34 percent on-year to 58 billion won in the first half from 43 billion won. Sales were up 26 percent to 591.84 billion won from 468.2 billion won.

This year, Jeju Air aims to achieve sales of over 1 trillion won on a strengthened fleet and more profitable routes.

The carrier plans to expand its fleet to 39 B737-800NG planes by the end of this year from the current 34.

Jeju Air is 59.59 percent owned by Aekyung Group, a cosmetics-to-health care conglomerate. (Yonhap)

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