The number of international and domestic passengers using South Korea’s low-cost carriers grew significantly from a year earlier in 2013 with the combined market share of the budget carriers on domestic routes surging to a record high, the government said Thursday.

The total number of passengers using flights by the country’s five low-cost carriers came to over 15.69 million last year, up 20 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

International passenger traffic spiked 37 percent on-year to some 4.91 million with the number of domestic passengers also jumping 13.8 percent to about 10.78 million.

The low-cost airlines’ combined market share on domestic routes gained 4.4 percentage points to reach 48.2 percent while their share on international routes climbed to 9.6 percent, up 2.1 percentage points from 2012.

The ministry said the budget carriers’ market share will likely grow again this year as the airlines are actively expanding both their international and domestic services. (Yonhap News)