South Korea’s international air passenger traffic jumped to a new first-quarter high this year on a sharp increase in the number of visitors to and from other Asian countries, the government said Tuesday.

In the three months ending on March 31, the number of air passengers to and from the country reached 12.51 million, up 10 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The number of passengers to and from China jumped 14.8 percent on-year during the January-March period with passengers to and from Southeast Asian countries also surging 13.8 percent.

Of the total, 65.9 percent of all international passengers used flights operated by South Korean flag carriers.

The figure remained little changed from a year earlier.

However, the combined market share of the country’s low-cost carriers continued to increase, gaining 3.1 percentage points from the first quarter of 2012 to 9.4 percent, according to the ministry. (Yonhap News)