South Korean air passenger traffic drops to record low

South Korean air passenger traffic slumped by 84pc from pre-coronavirus levels in March, in one of the first indications of the full toll of the coronavirus pandemic on last month's Asia-Pacific jet fuel demand.

The number of air passengers in the country fell to 1.74mn in March, the first time the total has been below 2mn since records began in 1997, the Korea Civil Aviation Association said. Traffic was down by 84pc from January's 10.6mn, just before the pandemic began to cripple the airline industry, and less than a third of February's 5.5mn. The passenger count on international flights plunged by 96pc from March last year to around 786,000.

Nearly 87pc of the planes operated by South Korean air carriers, or 324 aircraft, are idle and out of service, the association said. The industry has lost an estimated 6.45 trillion won ($5.27bn) in sales. Flagship carrier Korean Air and other airlines have asked for government support, including low-interest loans and bond guarantees, to weather the crisis and avert bankruptcy.

Low-cost carrier Eastar Jet, which last month became the first South Korean airline to suspend all of its flights, said yesterday that it plans to fire 20pc of its work force and return 10 of its 23 Boeing 737-800 planes to leasing companies.

By Tony Cox