Since early 2014,
Asiana Airlines had considered launching a second
low-cost carrier (LCC) in addition to
Air Busan. It initially faced difficulties in proceeding with the project because of the
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash in July 2013. Asiana has only a minority 46% stake in Air Busan, while it has a controlling stake in Air Seoul. Air Busan is based in Busan, which has allowed other LCCs such as
Jin Air and
Jeju Air to fill the Seoul market; Air Seoul is based in Seoul. The goals of Air Seoul are to strengthen Asiana's competition with other South Korean LCCs and to improve Asiana's performance in certain markets, such as secondary Japanese cities. On 5 July 2016, the
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced it had granted Air Seoul its
air operator's certificate. Flights between
Seoul–Gimpo and
Jeju commenced on 11 July. The airline started flights to Japan in October 2016, its first international routes and has since moved to become a purely international airline. On 7 November 2016, Air Seoul announced that it had collaborated with
Naver WEBTOON to produce a safety video. Some of the works featured in this video include
Denma,
The Sound of Heart, and
Noblesse. Air Seoul began offering an in-flight magazine entitled
Your Seoul to passengers in January 2017. The magazine advertises the tourist attractions in the airline's hub city, Seoul. In 2018, it carried 1.7 million passengers in 2018, up by 109% from 2017. On 21 March 2019, Air Seoul with collaboration of
Naver WEBTOON's LICO introduced a new in-flight safety video. Air Seoul is the first Korean airline to produce an in-flight safety video based on 3D animation created using LICO's character "Hwang-goo". On 7 October 2019, Air Seoul launched an in-flight entertainment service named "Cinema in the Sky'. On 16 December 2019, Air Seoul launched a Hanoi – Seoul route. The airline has confirmed that Tam Vuong had become an official representative of Air Seoul in
Vietnam. In 2023, the airline achieved its best-ever performance, with revenue of 310.9 billion won and operating profit of 64.4 billion won. Its operating profit margin was also the highest among domestic airlines.{{cite web |url=https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/economy/marketing/1128876.html |title=에어서울, 매출 3109억에 영업이익 644억…지난해 최대 실적 As a result of
merger with Korean Air, the airline, as well as parent company Air Busan will be integrated with Jin Air, Korean Air's subsidiary. ==Corporate affairs==