By Yun Suh-young

The number of passengers using international flights hit an all-time high of 4.3 million last month, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Monday.

The monthly figure rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier and broke its previous record of 4.2 million in August last year.

Except for the Americas, the number of international flight users to all regions increased.

“Due to the summer vacation period, the Yeosu Expo, the increase in Japanese and Chinese tourists, and the increased number of flights from low-cost carriers all contributed to the rise in numbers of international flight passengers,” a ministry official said.

“We expect the number to grow once more during the month of August which is the peak season.” The number of passengers traveling to Japan rose by 16.9 percent and 12.6 percent and 9.8 percent respectively for China and Southeast Asia.

Passengers using low-cost carriers accounted for 8 percent of the total airline passengers, marking an increase of 3.5 percentage points from a year before. The number of passengers who took domestic flights also increased by 6 percent to 1.84 million. The low-cost carriers took up 43 percent of the traffic volume.

Air traffic increased overall by 6.9 percent to 46,243 flights. However, the amount of air cargo reduced by 2.9 percent due to the economic slump at home and abroad.