The increase in air passenger traffic was attributed to a rise in both international and domestic passengers. (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s air passenger traffic has reached a new high on a sharp increase in international passengers to and from the country, the transportation ministry said Monday.
Air passenger traffic has already reached over 100 million as of Monday, breaching the 100 million mark for the first time in the country’s history, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
The annual tally was expected to reach 103.8 million, it said.
“The country’s air passenger traffic breached 50 million in 2007, 20 years after it reached over 10 million in 1987. And now, in just nine years since reaching the 50 million mark, the country’s air passenger traffic has reached over 100 million,” the ministry said, adding the number will be the eighth highest in the world.
The increase in air passenger traffic was attributed to a rise in both international and domestic passengers.
In the January-October period, international air passenger traffic jumped 20.2 percent on-year to 60.9 million, the ministry said earlier.
The ministry said the number will likely reach 72.96 million this year, marking an 18.8-percent spike from a year earlier.
Domestic passenger traffic was expected to reach 30.83 million this year, up 10.2 percent from 27.98 million in 2015. In the January-October period, domestic passenger traffic soared 11.4 percent on-year to 25.9 million.
(Yonhap)
