SOUTH KOREA’S AIR PASSENGER TRAFFIC HITS RECORD HIGH IN 2025 AMID STRONG INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- South Korea's air passenger traffic reached a record high in 2025 on strong overseas travel demand, government data showed on Friday, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The number of airline passengers at South Korean airports totalled 124.8 million last year, up 3.9 per cent from 120 million a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The figure marked the highest annual total, surpassing the previous peak of 123.4 million in 2019.

The increase was largely driven by a rise in the number of international passengers to and from South Korea, which rose 6.3 per cent year on year to around 94.5 million, while domestic travellers fell 2.8 per cent to 30.2 million over the period.

By destination, passengers to and from Japan rose 8.6 per cent year on year to more than 27.3 million, helped in part by the weak Japanese currency.

Travellers between South Korea and China jumped 22 per cent to 16.8 million, supported by visa-waiver programmes implemented by both countries.

Air passenger traffic to and from other Asian countries edged down 0.5 per cent year on year to 34.8 million.

A total of 6.8 million people travelled between South Korea and the United States last year, up 4.7 per cent from a year earlier, while 4.9 million air travellers used European routes, up 5.5 per cent year on year.

-- BERNAMA-YONHAP