Surpassing Beloved Vietnam Among Koreans... Flights to China Soared 10-Fold

First 1 Million Passengers Since COVID-19 Pandemic
Profitability per Distance Up... Airlines Increasing China Routes

Last month, the number of passengers using China routes increased tenfold compared to the same month last year, surpassing 1 million for the first time in four years.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's aviation statistics system on the 19th, the number of passengers on international flights to China last month reached 1,018,447. This represents a 9.7-fold increase compared to the same month last year. It is the first time since January 2020 (1,540,037 passengers), right after the outbreak of COVID-19, that the number has exceeded 1 million.

Although the total number of passengers slightly decreased last month due to fewer business days, the number of passengers to China actually increased. The total number of international passengers in February was 7,175,845, down about 1.4% from the previous month. However, the number of passengers to China increased by 16.6%, from 873,329 to 1,018,447 during the same period.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As a result, China became the second-largest country in terms of domestic international passenger numbers (accounting for 14.2%). Vietnam, which had been second until last month, dropped to third place as its passenger numbers decreased by 5.2% to 929,343. Excluding China, only three Asian countries saw an increase in passenger numbers: Bangladesh (7.8%), Myanmar (6.4%), and Brunei (4.3%). Even these increases are far behind China in absolute scale and growth rate. Passenger numbers to Japan, which was recently considered a 'trend,' slightly decreased by 0.1% to 2,032,368 compared to the previous month.

With demand for China recovering, airlines are resuming or increasing their routes. Korean Air will resume the Incheon~Zhengzhou route four times a week starting from the 24th of next month. From the 23rd, the Incheon~Zhangjiajie route will operate three times a week.

Asiana Airlines will operate the Gimpo~Beijing route daily in July and August. It will also resume five routes departing from Incheon Airport to Tianjin, Chengdu, Xi'an, Chongqing, and Shenzhen. Jeju Air plans to add the Muan~Zhangjiajie route (four times a week) and the Muan~Yanji route (twice a week) in the future.

An aviation industry official explained, "Not only is demand for travel to China increasing, but business travel demand is also rising. Since these routes are profitable relative to distance and require a certain level of operation to maintain traffic rights, the number of routes will gradually increase."