Jeju Air Co., South Korea's leading budget carrier, said Wednesday it will receive two B737-8 passenger jets later this year to beef up its fleet and achieve fuel efficiency.

Two out of the 40 B737-8s Jeju Air signed in 2018 to purchase from Boeing will arrive within the year, with the remaining 38 B737-8s set to be gradually added to its fleet, the company said in a statement.

Under the contract, 10 additional B737-8s are optional depending on market conditions.

Jeju Air said it expects the new fuel-efficient aircraft to help it reduce operating costs as the B737-8 is 15 percent more fuel-efficient than the B737-800NG plane.

The low-cost carrier currently operates six domestic routes and 50 international routes using 38 B737-800NG passenger jets. It plans to replace all the B737-800NGs with the B737-8 aircraft in the long term.

From January to June, it swung to a net profit of 68.1 billion won (US$50 million) from a net loss of 120.6 billion won a year earlier helped by unleashed travel demand after the lifting of most COVID-19 restrictions.

This year, it aims to turn things around after posting net losses for four consecutive years through 2022.

Source: Yonhap News Agency