[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s air passenger traffic reached a new record high in August on increased overseas travel demand, the government said on Sept. 27.

The number of air passengers came to 10.58 million in August, up 6.1 percent from a year earlier, making it a new monthly record, according to a tally from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

It is the second time that the country’s monthly number of air passengers has surpassed the 10 million mark. In January this year, the figure was 10.06 million.

The ministry attributed the record August tally to a steady increase in the number of overseas travelers.

International air passenger traffic surged 10.9 percent on-year to a record high of 7.82 million last month thanks to increased demand for outbound trips during the summer vacation season, more flights from low-cost carriers and China’s move to allow some group tours to Korea.

Passenger traffic on Chinese routes spiked 24.9 percent to 1.58 million, but it was off 23.6 percent from the same month in 2016.

Domestic passenger traffic dropped 5.5 percent on-year to 2.76 million last month, affected by decreased numbers of flights and seasonal factors such as a record heat wave.

The ministry expected air passenger traffic to continue its uptrend in September on diversified overseas flight routes and increased demand for overseas trips during the Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, holiday.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)