The number of passengers using South Korea's main gateway Incheon International Airport during the extended fall harvest holiday is expected to surpass the two million mark, its operator said Monday.

Incheon International Airport Corp. said the number of passengers using its facility from Sept. 29 to Monday will likely exceed 2.06 million. The airport authority has tentatively tallied 1.87 million passengers as of Sunday and some 185,000 passengers are expected to use the airport on Monday, the last day of the longest holiday in decades.

This year's Chuseok holiday included two separate national holidays -- National Foundation Day and Hangeul (Korean alphabet) Day -- as well as two weekends and one temporary off day.
 

Based on its projection, IIAC said the airport processed an average 187,000 passengers daily in the 11-day period, the highest tallied so far for a holiday period. Previously, the airport saw a daily average of 173,858 passengers during the five-day Lunar New Year's Day holiday earlier this year.

Incheon airport, located some 60 kilometers west of downtown Seoul, has been packed with passengers.

The number of outbound passengers using the airport reached a record 114,721 on Sept. 30, the first day of the extended holiday, and hit a fresh peak of 116,111 the following day, according to IIAC. After Thursday, the number of inbound passengers increased and those who entered South Korea via the Incheon airport hit a record 110,435 Friday, but was surpassed by new tally of 112,828 on Saturday and 117,593 Sunday.

The operator said 1,120 flights were operated alone on Oct. 1, setting a new single day record in the number of planes that landed and took off from the airport.

The duty free shops at Incheon airport also earned average 7.6 billion won daily during Sept. 30-Oct. 7 period, also highest figure for a national holiday period, according to IIAC. (Yonhap)