Air Passenger Numbers Decrease by 15% Due to Omicron Spread

On the 28th, to prevent the domestic influx of the COVID-19 variant 'Omicron' spreading across South Africa, the government banned entry from eight African countries. This is a view of Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport.

Due to the global spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and the resulting decline in travel sentiment, the number of air passengers this month has decreased by 15%.

According to real-time statistics from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Aviation Portal on the 10th, the total number of domestic and international passengers using domestic airports from the 1st to the 10th of this month was 947,215, a 15.3% decrease compared to the same period last month (1,119,495). This is the lowest figure since September (1st to 10th, 804,385), before the phased recovery policy (With Corona) was implemented.

In particular, the surge in domestic COVID-19 cases at the beginning of this month led to a significant decline in domestic air passengers. As of this date, the total number of domestic air passengers was 877,017, down 17.6% from the same period last month (1,064,817). The most popular route, Gimpo-Jeju, saw 204,488 passengers, a decrease of 37,584 (15.5%) compared to the previous month (242,072).

During this period, the number of international air passengers increased by 28.3% to a total of 70,198 compared to the previous month (48,560), due to the With Corona policy. This is attributed to the aviation industry's expansion of major international routes before the spread of Omicron.

However, with the government implementing a 10-day quarantine for all arrivals from abroad from the 3rd to the 16th of this month, international air passenger numbers are expected to sharply decline from mid-month.

In fact, Korean Air has reduced its Incheon-Osaka route from December 12th to twice a week (Wednesdays and Thursdays) from once a day, and Asiana Airlines postponed its planned Incheon-Guam flight on the 23rd to January 30th next year. Jeju Air also canceled 7 out of 8 Guam flights scheduled from the 4th to the 16th of this month and has temporarily suspended its planned Bangkok route flights until next year.

The aviation industry expressed concerns that if the Omicron spread continues long-term, further flight suspensions will be inevitable. With major countries such as the U.S. and Europe tightening entry restrictions, the frozen travel sentiment is expected to persist until the first half of next year.

An aviation industry official said, "As Omicron spreads and domestic COVID-19 cases hit record highs daily, we are temporarily suspending or canceling the resumption of major international routes," adding, "We are very worried that the impact will continue through the Lunar New Year holiday next year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.