A plane of Jeju Air (Photo: KBS World/VNA)

Jeju Air, the biggest low-costcarrier of the Republic of Korea (RoK), announced on November 22 that it hasopened direct routes to Phu Quoc Island of Vietnam and Bohol Island of thePhilippines.

It began to operate flights on the routes fromIncheon International Airport in Seoul on November 21.

The routes were launched amid a drop in Koreanpeople’s demand for travel to Japan due to a trade row between the two countries.

Jeju Air shifted to a net loss of 30.1 billionwon (27 million USD) in the third quarter of 2019 from a net profit of 31.1billion won a year earlier.

It said Korean travellers have increasinglyopted not to travel to Japan due to Japan's export curbs, dealing a blow to thequarterly earnings results. The won's weakness against the US dollar alsoweighed on the bottom line.

The airline operates 45 B737-800s on sixdomestic routes and 70 international routes, mainly to Singapore and otherSoutheast Asian countries./.VNA