1.4 Million Domestic Passengers During Lunar New Year Holiday... Surpassing Pre-COVID Levels

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] During this year's Lunar New Year holiday, approximately 1.4 million passengers used domestic flights over six days, with the average daily number of passengers surpassing not only last year's Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays but also pre-COVID-19 levels.

According to the Korea Airports Corporation on the 4th, the total number of passengers at 14 domestic airports excluding Incheon Airport during this Lunar New Year holiday (January 28 to February 2) was 1,398,816. This means an average of 233,136 passengers used the airports daily.

The average daily number of domestic passengers during the 2019 Lunar New Year holiday, before COVID-19, was 176,610. This increased to 190,063 during last year's Lunar New Year holiday and 220,649 during last year's Chuseok holiday, showing an upward trend. The average daily number of flights also rose from 1,342 during last year's Lunar New Year holiday to 1,455 during last year's Chuseok holiday, and this year's Lunar New Year holiday recorded 1,458 flights. In 2019, an average of 1,079 flights operated daily during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The airport with the highest number of passengers during this year's Lunar New Year holiday was Jeju Airport, with 507,388 passengers, followed by Gimpo Airport (473,866 passengers) and Gimhae Airport (196,819 passengers). Notably, on the last day of the holiday, February 2, 260,866 passengers used domestic flights, while the day with the fewest domestic passengers was January 31, with 202,956 passengers.

A representative from Korea Airports Corporation stated, "Since the early stages of COVID-19, demand for overseas travel has shifted to domestic travel, resulting in domestic passenger numbers surpassing pre-pandemic levels over the past year."

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