South Korea's air passenger traffic reached more than 120 million people last year, approaching pre-pandemic levels.

According to data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday, the number of air passengers at South Korean airports last year came to over 120 million, up 19-point-five percent from a year earlier.

The figure represents 97 percent of the record 123-point-36 million tallied in 2019, before the outbreak of COVID-19.

The number of air passengers on domestic flights marked 31-point-13 million last year, down three percent from a year earlier, while the figure for international flights posted 88-point-92 million, soaring 30 percent on-year.

By destination, passengers to and from Japan jumped 29-point-seven percent on-year to over 25 million last year.