S. Korea air passenger traffic hits record 109.36 mln last year

SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's air passenger traffic reached a new record high last year on growing travel demand, while flight delays declined due to improved schedule management, the transport ministry said Sunday.

In 2017, the country's passenger traffic on domestic and international routes stood at 109.36 million, up 5.2 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.

The rate of overall flight delays fell 3.8 percentage points to 9.5 percent last year compared to the year before. On domestic routes, the rate dropped to 12 percent from 18.6 percent over the same period, while the rate on international routes edged up to 5.9 percent from 5.2 percent, it said.

Foreign airlines that offer services through Korean airports posted a delay rate of 6.5 percent last year, down from the previous year's 6.8 percent, the statement said.

South Korea has two full-service carriers -- Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. -- and six low-cost carriers, namely Jin Air, Jeju Air, Air Busan Co., Air Seoul Inc., Eastar Jet and T'way Air Co.

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