[THE INVESTOR] International air passengers to and from South Korea jumped nearly 48 percent on-year in June, government data showed on July 27.

The number of international air passengers came to 5,968,161 last month, up 47.9 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Overall air passenger traffic jumped 44.5 percent on-year to some 8.66 million in June as domestic passengers also spiked 37.4 percent.

The large increases in both domestic and international passengers were partly attributed to a base effect stemming from a sharp drop following the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in May 2015. The MERS outbreak was officially declared terminated here late last year after claiming 38 lives.

By country, international passengers to and from China spiked 80.1 percent on-year to over 1.8 million, with passengers to and from Japan surging 42.2 percent to some 1.07 million.

The number of international passengers using flights operated by low-cost South Korean carriers nearly doubled, spiking 96.4 percent on-year to over 1.07 million in June. International passengers on flights operated by the country‘s two largest flag carriers -- Korean Air and Asiana Airlines -- surged 30.5 percent over 2.72 million.

Still, the combined market share of all South Korean flag carriers slipped to 63.6 percent in June, compared with 65.2 percent in the same month last year, according to the ministry.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)