Air Busan-Saipan route
Air Busan expands flights to Saipan amid vaccinations
SEOUL, March 16 (Yonhap) -- Air Busan Co., a budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Wednesday it has expanded flights on the Busan-Saipan route to preemptively respond to pent-up travel demand amid rising vaccinations and eased virus curbs.
On Jan. 23, Air Busan began to offer one flight per week on the Saipan route following a travel bubble agreement with Saipan, a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases.
Starting Wednesday, the low-cost carrier will fly two flights per week to Saipan, the company said in a statement.
On top of five domestic routes, the company currently offers flights on two international routes -- the southern port city of Busan to Qingdao, China, and Saipan -- 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.
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