Budget carrier Jeju Air mulls capital increase

SEOUL, March 22 (Yonhap) -- Jeju Air Co., South Korea's largest budget carrier,
said Sunday it is considering conducting a capital increase and setting up
strategic tieups with foreign airlines this year.
The move, part of Jeju Air's business expansion plan, comes after the low-cost
carrier launched its first overseas flight services to two Japanese cities last
week.
"We plan to raise Jeju Air's equity capital to 80 billion won (US$57 million)
from the current 68.7 billion won," a group official said. "We will also seek to
establish strategic alliances with foreign carriers."
With the capital raise, Jeju Air will introduce a B737-800 aircraft this year,
raising its fleet to six planes, he said, adding the number of its planes will be
increased to 15 by 2015.
Jeju Air on Friday started offering one daily flight between Incheon Airport, the
main gateway to South Korea, and Osaka of Japan. It also began three weekly
flight services between Incheon and Kitakyushu.
Jeju Air aims to offer regular flight services to 13 cities in five countries by
the year 2013.
The low-fare carrier began flight services on domestic routes in 2006 and
launched charter flight services between the city of Jeju and Hiroshima, Japan,
in July of last year.
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