Air passengers rise 24 percent in May amid return to pre-pandemic normalcy

Home > Business > Industry

print dictionary print

Air passengers rise 24 percent in May amid return to pre-pandemic normalcy

Passengers stand in line in front of a check-in counter at Incheon International Airport on Friday. [YONHAP]

Passengers stand in line in front of a check-in counter at Incheon International Airport on Friday. [YONHAP]

The number of passengers flying Korean flag air carriers rose nearly 24 percent in May from a year earlier as demand in travel recovers to pre-pandemic levels, government data showed Tuesday.
 
Korean airlines carried 9.32 million people on international and domestic routes last month, up 23.8 percent from 7.54 million tallied a year ago, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport data.
 
International passengers soared more than sixfold to 3.6 million in May from the previous year's 556,000, while air passengers on domestic routes declined 18 percent on year to 5.73 million from 6.98 million over the cited period.
 
The monthly figure also accounted for 85.8 percent of 10.88 million tallied in May 2019, before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
The sharp on-year increase came as Korea's air carriers have resumed international flights to meet pent-up travel demand with Covid-related travel restrictions now lifted.
 
According to separate recent data from the Korea Tourism Organization, 1.5 million Koreans traveled overseas in April, up nearly 600 percent from a year ago.
 

Yonhap
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)