Korea's international air passenger traffic jumped to a new first-quarter high this year on a sharp increase in the number of visitors to and from other Asian countries.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of international air passengers to and from the country reached 12.51 million in the first three months of the year, up 10 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The number of inbound tourists is on the rise, thanks to the Korean Wave. International and domestic air traffic in the first quarter reached 172.1 million, up 5.6 percent from last year’s 163.0 million. The ministry anticipated that the figure will reach 700 million this year if the trend continues.

The rise of low-cost airlines was notable. The market share of low-cost international flights rose by 3.1 percentage points year-on-year to 9.4 percent while low-cost domestic flights increased by 4.3 percentage points y-o-y to 47.3 percent.

Source: Yonhap News (Apr. 23, 2013)

** This article was translated from the Korean.