The number of international flights last month was nearly 60% of the pre-COVID-19 level in January 2019.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Feb. 6 said the country in January saw 27,206 international flights boarded by 4.61 million passengers.
The passenger figure was 58% of that in January 2019.
The number began spiking from October last year given surging demand for travel to countries covering short to middle distances from Korea such as Japan, Vietnam and Thailand and the consequent expansion of international air routes.
By region, flights to Japan last month saw 1.33 million travelers, up 10.8% from the pre-pandemic level in January 2020.
The growth was influenced by the yen’s depreciation and Japan’s eased quarantine measures such as no-visa entry from October last year.
Demand for travel to Southeast Asia including Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines also shot up last month to 2.18 million passengers, or 66% of the pre-pandemic level.
The number of passengers to China, however, was just 100,000 last month, or a recovery rate of only 8% due to tightened quarantine regulations on inbound travelers.
In addition, domestic flights last month saw 2.64 million passengers, up 3.7% from January 2019.
Kim Young-guk, director general of the ministry’s Aviation Policy Bureau, said, “We will do our best to restore international flights back to normal so that people can travel abroad without inconvenience,” adding, “With aviation safety as our top priority, we will do all we can in safety and security management.”
