About 125 million people used domestic airports last year, breaking the all-time record. The surge was driven by a sharp increase in passengers on Japan and China international routes.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Air Transport Association on the 9th, the combined number of domestic and international air passengers last year was 124,793,082. That is up 3.9% from the previous year (120,058,371). It is 1.2% higher than the all-time high in 2019 (123,360,000).
International passengers totaled 94,548,031, up 6.3% from a year earlier. In particular, travel to Japan increased significantly. Passengers on Japan routes last year reached 27.31 million, an 8.6% increase. That is 44.8% higher than in 2019.
It appears to reflect the expansion of routes to smaller Japanese cities, the prolonged weak yen, and the effects of the "restrict travel to Japan" trend. Recently, the Chinese government has urged people not only to avoid travel to Japan but also to avoid buying Japanese products as part of economic sanctions, and the decline in Chinese visitors has made destinations less crowded, spreading the perception that it is a good environment for travel.
China routes are also crowded. Passengers on China routes last year reached 16.8 million, up 22%. Factors include China's visa waiver for Koreans, the visa-free policy for Chinese group tourists (three or more travelers booking through agencies) implemented from September last year, and fare cuts by Chinese airlines.
By contrast, domestic passengers fell 2.8% to 30,245,051.
Passengers on routes to Southeast Asia and other parts of Asia also decreased 0.5% year over year to 34.82 million. That is 95.6% of the level seen just before COVID-19 in 2019.
This is interpreted as the result of travel demand concentrating on Japan and China, as well as an avoidance of Southeast Asia following the fallout from last year's confinement and assault incident in Cambodia.
There were large differences by airline. Full-service carrier Korean Air carried 19.14 million passengers and Asiana Airlines carried 12.15 million, up 8.2% and 1.3%, respectively. Aero K saw passengers surge 75.4% year over year to 1.5 million, Eastar Jet Co. rose 59.7% to 3.07 million, and Air Premia increased 42.3% to 1.08 million.
By contrast, Jeju Air carried 7.78 million passengers last year, down 9%. AIR BUSAN (4.16 million) also saw passengers fall 7.4%. A reduction in flights following passenger plane accidents and fires last year, as well as passenger concerns about safety, are cited as reasons for the decline in demand.