South Korea’s international air passenger traffic surged to a new monthly high last month on a spike in visitors to and from Japan and China, the Transportation Ministry said Thursday.

The number of international passengers to and from South Korea jumped 11.6 percent from a year earlier to 4.72 million in August, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

The August tally marks a new monthly record. The previous record of 4.34 million passengers was set only the previous month.

“The number of passengers on all international routes increased from a year earlier with the only exception being the Korea-U.S. route, partly due to an increase in the number of flights offered by low-cost carriers,” the ministry said in a press release. (Yonhap News)









The number of passengers to and from Japan surged 16.6 percent on-year in August and the number of passengers to and from China grew 12.3 percent. The number of passengers to and from the United States shrank 2 percent from a year earlier.