Seoul. Aug 15 (IANS): The number of air passengers in South Korea recovered to nearly 84 per cent of the pre-Covid pandemic level in July, government data showed on Tuesday.

A total of 8.98 million people boarded international and domestic flights last month, up 79 per cent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The number accounts for 83.8 per cent of the 10.7 million tallied in July 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The number of international flight passengers more than tripled to 6.38 million in July from a year ago, but the number of domestic flight passengers dropped about 18 per cent on-year to 2.59 million as more people traveled abroad.

According to aviation industry officials, the flight passenger tally is expected to recover to about 85 per cent of the pre-pandemic level in August thanks to the peak travel season.

The data also showed that the number of passengers boarding flights connecting South Korea and China is on an upward trend, with the recovery rate increasing to 25.7 per cent of the pre-pandemic level in the January-July period from 12.9 per cent in the January-April period.

In July, 818,000 used South Korea-China air routes, accounting for 51.5 per cent of the corresponding tally for 2019.

In the same month last year, only 30,000 used the routes.