Korea’s air passenger traffic reaches record high in 2014

Korea’s air passenger traffic reached a record high in 2014 as 81.43 million people traveled by airplane, according to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday.

This is the first time that the figure has surpassed the 80 million mark.

The ministry said that the volume of international passenger traffic was 56.78 million, an 11 percent year-on-year increase, while domestic passengers have jumped 10.3 percent year-on-year to 24.65 million.

As for cargo, air carriers delivered 3.69 million tons in 2014, up 5.6 percent from a year earlier

The ministry said that the expansion of local low-cost carriers (LCCs) following the rising number of Chinese tourists and the increasing number of Koreans traveling overseas caused a hike in the figures, while low fuel costs also helped airlines’ cargo business.

The data showed that Korean LCCs had a market share of 11.5 percent for transporting international passengers, surpassing two digits for the first time. The other two flag carriers - Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines - had a combined 51.1 percent share. On domestic flights, LCCs recorded 50.7 percent in 2014, up 2.5 percentage points from a year ago.