Air Pusan will start international services early next year with flights to Japan, the budget carrier's president Kim Soo-cheon announced at a press conference held Tuesday to mark the company's first anniversary on Oct. 27.

It will begin a daily flight between Busan and Fukuoka in March, and daily Busan-Osaka service in April. Kim said return tickets will cost around W150,000-W17,000, about 30 percent lower than current fares offered by major carriers and only around W30,000-W40,000 more than traveling by sea.

As for its service in Korea, the low-cost carrier is confident of competing against the KTX bullet train service which has significantly reduced air passenger traffic. Air passenger numbers between Busan and Gimpo began to fall with the launch of the high-speed train service in 2004, plummeting from 5.1 million passengers in 2003 to 2.4 million last year. But the downward trend began to turn around in August, Kim claimed. "And the opening of subway line No. 9 has shortened travel time between Gimpo Airport and the Gangnam area in southern Seoul, so the turnaround will gain more momentum," he added.