Air Busan Co., the budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Tuesday it will resume flights to the Chinese city of Qingdao in mid-October to meet travel demand from businessmen.

Air Busan plans to offer one flight a week on the Busan-Qingdao route from Oct. 15 after suspending the route for more than seven months due to the coronavirus impact on the airline industry, the company said in a statement.

In July, the carrier resumed the Incheon-Shenzhen route, but other Chinese routes to Ningbo, Chengdu, Qingdao, Yanji, Zhangjiajie, Xian, Hainan, and Haikou remain suspended.

Hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, Air Busan‘s net losses widened to 105.57 billion won ($90 million) in the January-June period from 23.1 billion won a year earlier.

It plans to raise 89 billion won in a rights offering in December to secure operating capital amid a prolonged virus crisis.

Asiana Airlines Inc., which holds a controlling 44 percent stake in the low-cost carrier, will inject 30 billion won into the rights issue. (Yonhap)