Air passenger traffic rises 13.7% on-year in November

The number of international flight passengers to and from South Korea rose 14.8 percent in November from the same month of last year, the government reported Wednesday.

The report attributed the rise largely to an increase in the number of visitors from Southeast Asian countries and an especially large influx during China’s APEC holiday.

Passengers who used South Korea-China routes soared 37.4 percent over the cited period, according to the report of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Domestic traffic also grew 11.5 percent last month from a year earlier on the back of increased traffic to and from the southern resort island of Jeju. Passengers to and from Jeju increased 15.7 percent on-year in November.

When combined, the number of passengers totaled 6.71 million in November, up 13.7 percent from a year earlier.

The report said air cargo traffic grew 6 percent to 326,000 tons on-year in November, helped by falling international crude oil prices. International air cargo traffic increased 5.8 percent to 303,000 tons over the cited period, while domestic cargo traffic surged 7.5 percent to 24,000 tons.

In the first 11 months of this year, the number of passengers reached 74.73 million, up 10.8 percent from the corresponding period last year, whereas air cargo traffic totaled 3.37 million tons, up 5.5 percent from a year earlier.

AJP