The number of passengers flying Korean Air, South Korea’s top air carrier, decreased for the second consecutive year in 2014 as low-cost carriers grabbed a bigger share of the short- and medium-haul markets, according to data compiled from annual reports.

“The drop in passengers seems to be influenced by the growing number of low budget airlines and foreign air carriers targeting the market aggressively,” a Korean Air official said.

Some 16.6 million passengers used Korean Air’s international flights in 2014, down 46,000 or 0.3 percent, compared to the previous year, according to data from Incheon International Airport and Korea Airports Corp.

This marked the second straight year that the figure has dropped since 2012, when 16.99 million passengers used its international flights.

Korean Air had a 29.2 percent share of the international flight traffic last year. This is the first time that the airline’s market share slipped below 30 percent.

The main reason behind Korean Air’s recent slump is the passenger preference for local budget carriers such as Jeju Air which flew 2.15 million people in and out of Korea last year.

Budget carriers accounted for 11.5 percent of the total number of international flight passengers last year, up 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier. This marked the first time that their share has topped 10 percent.

Foreign airlines including Emirates Airlines, Delta Airlines and China Eastern Air are also aggressively expanding their direct routes to Korea.

The nation’s No. 2 air carrier Asiana Airlines, however, flew more passengers on its international flights in 2014.

The air carrier transported 12.42 million passengers to destination abroad last year, up 6.1 percent from the previous year.

Asiana Airlines which also faces cutthroat competition from budget carriers has been expanding discount promotions to win over customers.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)