47m passengers used S. Korean airlines in H1, most ever

A record-high 47.56 million passengers used South Korean carriers in the first half of this year, logging a 29.1 percent increase from the same period in 2023.

The passenger traffic was the highest in the country's history, up from the previous high of 47.04 million in the H1 of 2019, according to the Air Portal data of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The annual all-time high for passengers of local airlines is 93.47 million, also recorded in 2019.

The number of passengers for both domestic and international flights increased compared to H1 last year, with the former up 11.5 percent to mark 18.15 million and the latter increasing by 43.1 percent to 29.41 million.

The recent surge is largely attributed to the increase in flights by low-cost carriers, the main routes of which include short-haul destinations such as Japan and Southeast Asia. Most local budget carriers saw increases in passenger traffic compared to H1 in 2019, including T'way Air Co. (34 percent), Jin Air Co. (25.9 percent), Air Seoul Co. (14.5 percent) and Jeju Air Co. (9.1 percent).

In contrast, the country's two full-service carriers -- Korean Air Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. -- both logged declines in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2019, down 11.2 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively.

Passenger traffic between South Korea and Japan -- one of the most popular travel destinations for people here -- has seen a substantial increase, with recent Land Ministry data showing that a total of 10.15 million people took international flights between the two countries in the January-May period. It also marked an all-time-high figure for that particular period, up from 9.38 million in 2019.