Jeju Air Co., South Korea's biggest budget carrier, said Friday it is resuming flights to Bangkok starting later next month on the back of eased entry curbs in the Southeast Asian country.

Jeju Air will operate four flights per week for the Incheon-Bangkok route from Dec. 22, about 18 months after it suspended the route on the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the flight suspension, it has only been running chartered planes to fly South Korean citizens traveling for essential reasons such as business or public service.

The flight resumption comes as Thailand has lifted the mandatory COVID-19 quarantine for vaccinated travelers from South Korea while requiring them to present negative COVID-19 test results.

With the planned flight resumption, Jeju Air plans to speed up the process to normalize the regular routes amid the easing of entry restrictions in foreign countries, helped by rising vaccination rates.

Jeju Air resumed flights to Guam early this month and Saipan in July. It plans to expand the resumption to other international routes going forward and expects to resume more flights to other major cities in Thailand by the end of this year. (Yonhap)