The daily number of passengers at Incheon International Airport on Nov. 6 hit 93,251, the first time for the figure to break 90,000 since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Shown is the crowded departure gate on June 30 at the airport's Terminal 1. (Yonhap News)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

The daily number of passengers at Incheon International Airport surpassed 90,000 for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) on Nov. 7 said the figure reached on the day before was 93,251.

The number exceeded 90,000 for the first time in 986 days since Feb. 24, 2020, and was over 10 times more than that on Jan. 1 (9,093).

The surge in daily passenger traffic was attributed to the easing of quarantine measures by Taiwan and Japan, two countries that accounted for 24.6% of flight demand to Korea as of October 2019.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters from Nov. 1 resumed visa-free entry for nationals from 91 countries and regions.

As of last month, the number of arriving flights at the Incheon airport was 39.2% of that in the same month of 2019. Excluding flights from China, the recovery rate was 48.5%, or nearly half of what it was before the pandemic.

IIAC President Kim Kyoung Wook said, "Recovery in passenger flights is speeding up in line with improving environments at home and abroad," adding, "This is a positive sign for recovery of the airport ecosystem including airlines and commercial facilities."

aisylu@korea.kr