S.Korean airlines see 12.87 mn int’l passengers in Q3 2023

South Korean airlines’ international passenger traffic in the third quarter reached 85% of that over the same period in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Thursday released aviation statistics saying 12,872,321 passengers flew global routes on domestic carriers from July to September this year. The figure accounted for 85% of 15,155,18 such travelers over the same period of 2019 and a whopping 350% more than the 3.72 million who flew in the third quarter of last year.

In this year’s first half, domestic airlines saw a recovery rate of 66% in international passengers compared to the same period in 2019.

Industry sources attributed the surge in recovery to high demand for mid- to long-haul routes to Japan, China and Southeast Asia, which accounted for most flight additions by low-cost carriers in the peak travel season of the third quarter.

Japan routes saw 5.15 million passengers, trumping 4.39 million in the third quarter of 2019.

Routes to and from Vietnam saw 2.34 million travelers, equal to 96% of 2.44 million in the same quarter four years ago. Flights to Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Thailand also posted recovery in the 70%-80% range.

Thanks to the resumption of group tours to South Korea in August, China routes in the third quarter saw 2.59 million passengers, or 52% of that in the same period in 2019 and more than double their recovery rate of 21% in this year’s first half.

Write to Mi-Kyoung Lee at capital@hankyung.com