Airline passengers coming to and from South Korea rose to a new annual high in 2013, with the number of domestic air passengers also marking a significant growth, the government said Monday.

International passenger traffic to and from the country came to 50.99 million last year, up 6.9 percent from 47.7 million in 2012, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The country's overall air passenger traffic rose 7.27 percent on-year to 74.34 million, as the number of domestic air passengers grew 3.5 percent to 22.35 million.

A growing number of visitors to and from China and Southeast Asian countries, as well as growing services by the country's low-cost carriers, helped raise the numbers, the ministry said.

In 2013, passenger traffic to and from China jumped 16.6 percent on-year to over 12.58 million, and those to and from Southeast Asian countries surged 9.5 percent to around 17.27 million, the ministry said.

Passenger to and from Japan, on the other hand, slipped 5 percent on-year to about 10.94 million.

Of all international passengers, 65.2 percent used flights by the country's seven flag carriers, including five budget carriers. The combined market share of the five low-cost carriers gained 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier to 9.6 percent in 2013.

Air cargo traffic inched up 0.7 percent on-year to 3.5 million tons, as international cargo gained 1.2 percent to some 3.25 million tons, more than offsetting a 4.7 percent drop in domestic cargo to about 250,000 tons. (Yonhap News)