No. of air passengers recover to 83.8% of pre-pandemic level in July

The number of air passengers recovered to nearly 84% of the pre-pandemic level in July, government data showed Tuesday. A total of 8.98m people boarded international and domestic flights last month, up 79% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The number accounts for 83.8% of the 10.7m tallied in July 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The number of international flight passengers more than tripled to 6.38m in July from a year ago, but the number of domestic flight passengers dropped about 18% on-year to 2.59m as more people traveled abroad. According to aviation industry officials, the flight passenger tally is expected to recover to about 85% of the pre-pandemic level in August thanks to the peak travel season. The data also showed that the number of passengers boarding flights connecting South Korea and China is on an upward trend, with the recovery rate increasing to 25.7% of the pre-pandemic level in the January-July period from 12.9% in the January-April period.<br/>