S. Korea's int'l air passenger traffic jumps 16.2 pct in Oct.
By KH디지털2Published : Nov. 24, 2014 - 11:19
South Korea's international air passenger traffic surged to a record high in October with international air cargo also growing significantly from a year earlier, the government said Monday.
The number of international passengers to and from South Korea spiked 16.2 percent on-year to some 5.05 million in October, the highest for the month in the country's history, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
The increase was partly attributed to a growing number of tourists from China, who jumped 32.4 percent on-year to some 1.5 million in October.
"International air passenger traffic reached a new high for October amid a growing number of tourists coming to and from East Asian countries, as well as a large increase in the number of people from China around China's national holiday last month," the ministry said in a press release.
Passengers to and from East Asian countries surged 13.1 percent on-year to about 1.65 million with passengers to and from Japan climbing 6.9 percent to some 933,000.
Out of all international passengers to and from South Korea,
60.6 percent took flights operated by South Korean flag carriers, with 10.6 percent of the total using flights operated by the country's five low-cost carriers.
Domestic air passenger traffic climbed 15.6 percent on-year to some 2.41 million in October, partly due to a large increase in passengers to and from the southern resort island of Jeju. The traffic to Jeju spiked 19.6 percent to over 1.02 million, according to the ministry.
The combined market share of the five local budget carriers topped 50 percent for the first time, gaining 3.5 percentage points from a year earlier to 52 percent last month.
International air cargo gained 4.6 percent on-year to about 301,000 tons in October with shipments to and from China surging
10.6 percent to 61,939 tons. (Yonhap)