The number of passengers using South Korea's main gateway, Incheon International Airport, during the Lunar New Year holiday is expected to surpass 610,000, according to the airport's operator Saturday.

The Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) said the number of passengers using the transport hub from Friday to Tuesday will reach 616,074.

The airport is expected to process an average of 123,215 passengers per day in the five-day period, sharply up from 8,859 passengers per day reported during the same holiday period a year ago, the IIAC said.

The number is also around 61 percent of the tally recorded during the seven-day holiday period in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

On Saturday, 130,000 passengers are expected to use the airport, which would exceed the mark for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020, officials said. (Yonhap)