Jin Air, South Korea's budget airline, will start flying international routes to China and Thailand from October, the airline said on Apr. 1.

Jin Air was launched last July as a wholly owned subsidiary of South Korea's flagship carrier, Korean Air.

Currently operating three aircraft, the airline plans to expand its fleet to five Boeing 737-800 airplanes by the end of this year.

China has attracted growing attention from low-cost carriers in Asia.

Malaysia-based AirAsia will start flying between Tianjin and Kuala Lumpur on Apr. 2. As the largest budget airline in Asia, AirAsia launched six new routes to south China last year despite soaring oil prices and the deepening global economic downturn. That was the most aggressive expansion by a foreign carrier in the country.

AirAsia's smaller rivals, Tiger Airways from Singapore and Cebu Pacific from the Philippines, are also operating in China.

Spring Airlines, a Chinese private start-up carrier based in Shanghai, is the only domestic budget carrier in the country.