Asiana says it will normalize more flights hurt by MERS

Asiana Airlines said Tuesday it will normalize more of the flights it temporarily stopped operating due to the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak. The company cut a total of 478 fights on 37 routes including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taipei and Southeast Asia in June and July as the number of passengers significantly dropped.

The company previously operated four flights to Narita a day before the outbreak of MERS, but only ran three in the past two months.

Most of those stopped flights - including Narita, Nagoya, Shanghai, Tsingtao and Beijing - have already been normalized.

“Since the country is safe from the MERS, we decided to normalize our flight schedules earlier than we expected,” the company said in a statement. “We expect we can meet the consumer demand that is expected to grow with the summer vacation season approaching.”