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Demand for domestic air travel rebounds, while int'l travel still remains weak
Gimpo International Airport's domestic terminal is crowded with passengers in this Feb. 18 photograph. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
Demand for domestic air travel rebounded last month to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, while demand for international flights is still showing no signs of recovery, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Sunday.
The ministry said the number of passengers who used domestic routes operated by local airlines last month was tallied at about 2.31 million, similar to 2.49 million tallied in February 2019.
The country reported its first COVID-19 patient in January last year.
The latest figure showed about a 35 percent increase from 1.53 million passengers in February last year when the spread of infections began to worsen.
The increase in the number of passengers last month was attributed to the Lunar New Year holiday falling between Feb. 10 through Feb. 14, in addition to a decreasing trend of virus infections in that month.
Officials said the number of passengers on domestic routes is expected to reach 2.5 million this month, considering 1.74 million passengers have already boarded domestic flights from March 1 to 12.
But there have been no signs of demand recovering for international routes, which will continue to pose hardships to low-cost carriers (LCCs).
The number of passengers who boarded international flights operated by local airlines last month stood at 101,000. The figure was only about 3 percent of 2.72 million tallied in February last year, and less than 2 percent of 5.12 million in February 2019.
“As operations of international routes account for a big part of airlines' profits, financial difficulties facing air carriers, especially small ones, will continue despite the increase in the number of domestic passengers,” an official from a Seoul-based air carrier said on condition of anonymity.