S. Korea's int'l air passenger traffic jumps 48 pct in June

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- International air passengers to and from South Korea jumped nearly 48 percent on-year in June, marking a strong recovery from a large dip caused by the outbreak of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday.

International air passengers to and from the country came to 5,968,161 last month, up 47.9 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Overall air passenger traffic jumped 44.5 percent on-year to some 8.66 million in June as domestic passengers also spiked 37.4 percent.

The large increases in both domestic and international passengers were partly attributed to a base effect stemming from a sharp drop following the MERS outbreak in May 2015. The MERS outbreak was officially declared terminated here late last year after claiming 38 lives.

A sharp rise in both inbound and outbound passengers helped boost international air passenger traffic, the ministry noted.

By country, international passengers to and from China spiked 80.1 percent on-year to over 1.8 million, with passengers to and from Japan surging 42.2 percent to some 1.07 million.

The number of international passengers using flights operated by low-cost South Korean carriers nearly doubled, spiking 96.4 percent on-year to over 1.07 million in June. International passengers on flights operated by the country's two largest flag carriers -- Korean Air and Asiana Airlines -- surged 30.5 percent over 2.72 million.

Still, the combined market share of all South Korean flag carriers slipped to 63.6 percent in June, compared with 65.2 percent in the same month last year, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the ministry said air passenger traffic reached a record high of 49.8 million in the first six months of the year, up 14.5 percent from the same period last year.

International air passengers jumped 15.3 percent on-year to some 34.94 million, with domestic passengers surging 12.4 percent to 14.86 million.

International air cargo traffic gained 3.6 percent to some 1.94 million tons over the cited period.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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