S. Korea's int'l air passenger traffic reaches record high in Q1

SEJONG, April 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's international air passenger traffic surged to a new high in the first quarter of this year, partly on a jump in the number of foreign visitors, the government said Sunday.

In the January-March period, the number of air passengers to and from South Korea came to some 15.55 million, up 17.3 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The country's overall air passenger traffic spiked 16.6 percent to about 21.69 million as the number of domestic air passengers also jumped 14.7 percent on-year to some 6.14 million.

Such a large increase was partly attributed to a cut in global oil prices that helped lower air travel expenses.

In the three months ended March 31, the number of air passengers between the country and China spiked 31.8 percent on-year with the number of passengers to and from Japan also surging 11.1 percent, according to the ministry.

By airport, the number of international passengers to and from the country's southern resort island of Jeju spiked 61.8 percent on-year, while the number of passengers using Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to the capital, Seoul, surged 16 percent.

Air cargo traffic gained 6.4 percent on-year to about 888,000 tons in the three-month period.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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