Seoul, Jan 11 (IANS): South Korea's air traffic recovered to over 80 per cent of pre- pandemic levels last year on unleashed pent-up demand for travel following years of Covid-19 virus curbs, the Transport Ministry said on Thursday.

The number of passengers on domestic and international routes exceeded 100 million in 2023, accounting for 81.5 per cent of 123 million recorded in 2019 before the pandemic hit the airline industry, Yonhap News Agency reported citing data from the Ministry.

The number of passengers on domestic routes came to 32.19 million, or 97.6 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, while that of passengers who traveled abroad via the country's two international airports stood at 68.32 million, or 75.6 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

The two airports are Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport.

Of international routes, increased travel demand to Japan, Europe and the US helped offset lackluster demand to China last year, the data showed.

The numbers of passengers who used Japanese and US routes marked 19.38 million and 5.61 million, respectively, outpacing pre-pandemic levels, helped by the yen's weakness and an increased supply of flights.

In contrast, the number of passengers who traveled to China remained weak at 6.85 million, or 37 per cent of 2019 levels.

In August last year, China lifted the ban on group tours to South Korea, ending a six-year hiatus caused by frayed relations following the deployment of a US anti-missile system called THAAD here in 2017.