An employee at Shanghai-based budget carrier Spring Airlines Co told the Global Times that tickets for flights between Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province and Jeju Island in South Korea were available on its website on Monday.
South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo reported on Monday that Spring Airlines, which suspended its Ningbo-Jeju Island routes from July due to a decrease in the number of passengers, has said through its homepage that it plans to resume services.
The Global Times found on the Chinese website of Spring Airlines that flights are available every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday starting from Tuesday. A one-way ticket costs 575 yuan ($86.51) to 765 yuan.
The Spring employee declined to provide any further details.
According to the Dong-A Ilbo, the resumption of South Korea-bound routes of major Chinese airlines can be regarded as proof that China has ended its ban on group tourism to South Korea.
However, the report said it is premature to say that South Korea-China flights are on the road to recovery.
The current number of South Korea-China flights shown from Sunday to March 26, 2018 stands at about 1,050 a week, or 16 percent less than a year earlier.
Due to the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, South Korean industries such as tourism, cosmetics and toys have been strongly affected, and South Korean companies in China have considered transferring projects to other countries and regions such as Southeast Asia, Europe and the U.S., according to media reports.
South Korea has been facing a sharp decline in Chinese visitors this year.
Between March and August, the number of Chinese tourist arrivals fell 62.2 percent year-on-year to 1.72 million, media reports said last week.
Chinese experts have said that the steep falls reflect consumers' negative views of South Korea rather than government retaliation.
