By Jung Min-ho
A record number of travelers flocked to Incheon International Airport on the first day of this year’s 10-day Chuseok break.
According to Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIC) Sunday, 114,746 passengers used the airport to fly Saturday, surpassing 109,918, the previous record set on July 30.
On the same day, 74,360 people arrived at the airport.
IIC said the record number will likely be broken again Sunday, with more travelers expected to come.
The airport has been packed with people since Friday. The IIC noted it has been utilizing all of its resources to minimize inconvenience.
With 1,500 employees working hard to reduce waiting time, no major disruption has been reported there so far.
Local airlines, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, also opened their check-in counters earlier to ensure that all their passengers board their planes on time.
In recent years, an increasing number of people are using the Chuseok holidays as an opportunity to travel overseas.
According to Korean Air, the country’s largest airline, 99 percent of its tickets to Japan have been booked for that period. The booking rates for other destinations in Southeast Asia (96 percent) and Europe (91 percent) are not much lower.
According to Asiana Airlines, its tickets from Incheon to Beijing and Saipan have been fully booked. The company said the average booking rate during the break is 82.2 percent, higher than last year’s 79.9 percent.
Low-cost carriers also said the tickets to popular destinations, such as Fukuoka, Guam and Bangkok, were almost fully booked a long time ago.
Many Koreans are also expected to travel to Jeju Island. The Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Tourism Association said 520,000 people are expected to visit the island between Sept. 29 and Oct. 9.
As a record number of planes share the country’s airports and skies, some minor issues have occurred.
According to the Korea Airports Corporation, the Jeju Airport was closed for more than an hour from 3:59 p.m. Friday because of a technical issue, causing inconvenience to more than 30,000 people as a result.
The airport was closed again Sunday due to bad weather. As a result, five airplanes had to return and 40 others were delayed.