Passengers wearing masks arrive at Jeju International Airport. (Yonhap)
SEOUL — In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, traffic for the world’s busiest air route between Seoul and Jeju fell by nearly 30 percent during the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year.
Nearly 5.59 million passengers made trips on the route between January and June – a 31 percent drop from last year’s figure of 8.18 million, according to data from Korea Airports Corporation, a public enterprise behind Gimpo Airport.
In a report from aviation analyst OAG last year, the Seoul-Jeju route was named the busiest domestic route in the world, with 79,460 departures by seven carriers between March 2018 and February 2019.
While the drastic drop in air traffic paints a grim picture of the aviation industry, the air route between the South Korean capital and the country‘s popular holiday destination has fared well compared to others since the pandemic began, as more South Koreans seek to travel within the country as travel options are restricted by international travel quarantines.
On May 26, just 2,601 passengers traveled to Jeju through Incheon Airport, drawing a stark contrast to the same day last year when over 200,000 passengers took the trip.