T'way Air adds routes to 2 new Taiwan cities

SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Yonhap) -- T'way Air Co., one of South Korea's six budget carriers, said Monday it has begun to offer flights on new routes to two Taiwanese cities as part of its diversification effort.

T'way Air began services on the route from the Incheon International Airport to Kaohsiung on Friday and Taichung on Sunday with its 189-seat B737-800 passenger jet, the company said in a statement.

The low-cost carrier now operates 19 B737-800 jets on four domestic routes to Jeju Island and 44 international routes to 29 cities in eight destinations, including Guam, Saipan, Japan, China and Hong Kong.

South Korean airlines have diversified their routes to offset lower travel demand from China amid a diplomatic row 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 tour packages to South Korea in an apparent retaliation against the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which it argues can be used to spy on its military.

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