MEASURES AGAINST TRAVEL BOYCOTT TO JAPAN

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Following Korean Air, Asiana Airlines has also decided to use smaller planes in its flights to Japan, as reservations have plunged amid the Korea-Japan trade dispute. Flight routes to smaller provincial Japanese cities will likely be the main target of cutbacks.

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This Airbus A330 flies from Incheon to Osaka, Fukuoka and Okinawa in Japan. The jumbo plane accommodates up to 290 passengers. Asiana Airlines announced, starting mid-September after the Chuseok holidays, it will replace the A330 with mid-sized or smaller aircraft for its Japanese routes.

[Soundbite] (ASIANA AIRLINES OFFICIAL) : "The downsizing in aircraft model will apply to a portion of Japanese routes in response to decreasing reservations."

Currently about 20 jumbo planes service Japan routes each week. The downshift to smaller vehicles is expected to lead to a weekly decrease of about 2,000 passengers flying to the three Japanese destinations. Korean Air also plans to suspend the Busan-Sapporo route that operated 3 times a week, starting in September. The number of passengers who departed from Incheon International Airport headed to Japan edged down slightly from 979-thousand last July to 968-thousand this month. The aviation industry predicts flight reservations for Japan will sharply fall from September.

[Soundbite] (INDUSTRY OFFICIAL) : "Given the current pace, demand for flights to Japan will decline, especially more so with routes serving provincial cities."

Low budget carriers such as T'way Air and Air Busan also plan to scale back or stop flights to certain provincial Japanese cities from September. Major online shopping malls including Gmarket and Auction reported a 38% on-year drop in air ticket sales to Japan in July.