More Than Pre-Pandemic... Incheon Airport Surpasses 200,000 Daily Passengers for the First Time in 4 Years

First Time Since January 2020... Higher Than Japan's 2019 Daily Average
Demand Concentrated in Asia Including Japan and Taiwan... Americas Also Normalizing
Monthly 1 Million Available Seats... Potential for Further Increase

Photo by Incheon International Airport Corporation

The daily passenger count at Incheon Airport has surpassed 200,000 for the first time since 2020. As demand surged significantly from major Asian countries such as Japan and Taiwan, the number of travelers has increased to a level that even exceeds the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period.

Incheon International Airport Corporation announced on the 16th that the daily passenger count at Incheon Airport was tentatively recorded at 202,554 as of the 14th of this month. This marks the crossing of 200,000 daily passengers about 30 days earlier than initially predicted during the Lunar New Year holiday period. It is the first time in four years since January 27, 2020 (209,048 passengers) that Incheon Airport's daily passenger count has exceeded 200,000. Considering that the daily average passenger count in 2019 was 194,986, the demand has actually increased compared to the pre-pandemic period.

This is attributed to the full-scale easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the resumption of visa-free entry in major Asian countries such as Japan and Taiwan. Comparing the end of last year to the end of 2019 by region, the recovery rate for Japan reached 184.9%. The Americas region also showed clear normalization with a recovery rate of 98.4%. On the other hand, China remained at only 55.3%, about half of the pre-pandemic level. Europe, where flight times have increased due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, also showed a recovery rate of only 71.1%.

Despite China's economic downturn, airlines have redeployed aircraft previously assigned to Chinese routes to regions such as Japan and Southeast Asia, where travel demand has rapidly recovered, facilitating smooth demand recovery.

In particular, Incheon Airport's recovery rate was 77%, which is high compared to major airports in the Asian region. Airports in Northeast Asia, where pandemic restrictions were lifted around the same time as in Korea, had recovery rates based on cumulative international passengers as of October last year: Taipei 69%, Tokyo 66%, Hong Kong 49%, and Beijing 27%.

The number of passengers is expected to increase further. As of December last year, Incheon Airport's flight load factor was about 81.8%, indicating that there is still a monthly capacity surplus of over one million seats. According to the results of receiving airlines' requests for flight slots for the 2024 summer season (late March to late October), the number of slot allocations at Incheon Airport for summer 2024 is 276,952, which is an 18.5% increase compared to the pre-pandemic maximum of 233,648 slots in summer 2019. This suggests that recovery to 2019 levels of air travel demand within this year is possible.

Lee Hak-jae, President of Incheon International Airport Corporation, said, "Although various variables remain, we expect to recover passenger demand to 2019 levels this year. We will contribute to making the tourism industry a driving force for national development by continuously stabilizing airfares downward through airport-level marketing activities to increase air supply and strengthening efforts to attract foreign visitors to Korea, ensuring smooth recovery of air travel demand."