A Korean Air Boeing 747-8F / Courtesy of Korean Air

Korean Air said Tuesday it will restore its international flights to half that of pre-pandemic levels by September as pent-up travel demand is unleashed amid eased virus curbs.

The country's national flag carrier currently operates one-third of the 120 international flights it offered before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the airline industry in early 2020.

Starting July, Korean Air will resume some international routes to the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia while expanding the number of flights on other routes, the company said in a statement.

It was originally planning to restore the number of international flights to 50 percent of the 2019 level by the end of 2022 in line with the government's flight restoration plans.

In April, the transport ministry announced it will help local airlines restore the number of inbound and outbound flights to 50 percent of the 2019 level by the year's end.

If the flight restoration goes as planned, the number of the country's overall international flights will reach 2,420 a week, or 51 percent of the 2019 level, in November, the ministry said.

The carrier plans to introduce the A380 superjumbo into routes to New York, Hong Kong and Narita from July to absorb rising travel demand to those destinations. (Yonhap)