Korean Air Lines Co. looks set to expand its flights and services on Southeast Asian routes in a move to attract fast-increasing holidaymakers travelling to the region.

The nation's largest air carrier said Wednesday it will assign more large jets to further tap new routes to many tourist destinations and commercial hubs in the region.

"The Southeast Asian market, including Cambodia, has great potential, which offers opportunities to open new routes," Cho Yang-ho, chairman of Korean Air, said in a ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Wednesday. Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and other senior government officials attended the ceremony.

"Southeast Asia will be a new growth resource for the company that aims to become one of the world's top 10 carriers."

The Korean flag carrier has been operating flights from Seoul to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap since November.

Korean Air's move to expand its operations into the region is expected to get a boost because the government plans to open routes to several Southeast Asian states to all airlines by 2010. Countries to be affected by the deregulation include Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia.

Korean Air currently runs 20 flights to 10 Southeast Asian countries. It carried about 2.4 million passengers last year alone. The figures account for nearly 20 percent of the total air travellers, which company officials believe would further soar on an international travel boom and growing trade. The number of visitors to Thailand jumped about 25 percent year-on-year to 2.2 million in 2006, according to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation. Korean visitors to Vietnam
also grew over 20 percent to 904,000 last year.