S. Korea’s air traffic volume in April tops 30,000 as local travelers near record high

South Korea’s air traffic volume at local airports in April doubled from a year-ago period to top 30,000 for the first time in 14 months, although still halved against pre-pandemic levels. According to Air Portal run by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Wednesday, the nation’s air traffic reached 31,927 carriers, up 14.3% from the previous month and 98.8% against a year ago. This is the first time that air traffic exceeded 30,000 since the first wave of the pandemic hit the country in February last year. Traffic in domestic airspace was congested, with domestic flight passengers hitting 2.95 million, close to the record high of 3.03m in October 2019. It may swell to over 3m in May as the country celebrates public holidays like Children’s day and Buddha’s Birthday. Jeju Air operated 3,678 domestic flights, the highest among local airlines, followed by Jin Air with 3,513 flights. Jeju Air also carried the most domestic passengers of about 610,000.<br/>