South Korea's air traffic soared from a year earlier in the third quarter on a sharp increase in international flights to and from the country, the government said Thursday.

In the July-September period, the country's overall air traffic came to 192,913 flights, up 15.2 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The increase was largely attributed to a steep rise in the number of international flights to and from the country.

In the three months ended Sept. 30, international flights to and from South Korea jumped 23.6 percent on-year to 117,863 for a daily average of 1,281 flights.

Domestic flights gained 5.6 percent on-year to 63,079 over the cited period, while international flights passing through the country's airspace slipped 2.9 percent to 11,971.

"Air traffic increased 15.2 percent from the same period last year in the third quarter due to a high demand around the summer vacation season," the ministry said in a press release.

The ministry earlier said the country's international air passenger traffic spiked 26.5 percent on-year to 6.97 million in August, with its domestic air passenger traffic also gaining 6.9 percent to 2.88 million in the same month.

The ministry said the country's air traffic will continue to increase, especially after the government implements its plans to reduce flight delays that will include expanding the country's currently two-direction single air routes to single-direction double air routes.

By airport, flights handled by Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to Seoul, spiked 19.3 percent on-year to a daily average of 984 in the July-September period, with those handled by the airport on the southern resort island of Jeju also surging 12.9 percent to a daily average of 559 flights, it said. (Yonhap)