Earlier this year, the swine-flu scare and reports of political protests have caused many South Koreans to postpone plans to visit Thailand.

'In recent months, however, South Koreans are beginning to take flight to Thailand, so we had a shortage of seats on the Incheon-Bangkok route in recent weeks,' she said. 'Therefore, we welcome Jin Air's launch to give us much-needed additional seats.'

She added that 1 million South Koreans usually visit Thailand each year