In South Korean, only 1.35 million passengers were carried on domestic and international routes this April, according to a report released today by Air Portal, an aviation data provider under the Korea Civil Aviation Association (KCA). It is at the lowest level since January 1997, in which the figure marked at 3.7 million.

The number of passengers carried on domestic and international routes in South Korea fell 22 percent in April from 1.74 million in March, and plunged 87 percent from 10.14 million compared with last April.

Since March, airlines in South Korea has suspended most of its international flights due to concerns over the epidemic, while many countries were implementing border closures and measures related to passenger entry restrictions. The number of flights in South Korea dropped by 73 percent to 16057 in April, compared with 59,294 in the same period last year.

Air Portal said this month that it expects tourism demand to pick up from April. The need for air travel within South Korea has shown an upward trend, and the epidemic appears to have peaked. Air Portal pointed out that from May 1 to May 17, the number of passengers on South Korea’s domestic routes increased to 1.04 million from 668,143 people in the same period in April, an increase of 55%.

Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, the two largest airlines in South Korea, are planning to resume flights on several international routes in June in response to growing travel demand after countries eased entry restrictions.

(source: Yonhap)