The number of international flight passengers recovered to nearly 65 percent of the pre-pandemic level in the first half of the year, government data showed Monday.

A total of 29.5 million people boarded international flights between January and June, accounting for 64.8 percent of the 45.6 million tallied over the same period in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

By destination, the number of travelers to the Middle East and Africa recovered at the fastest pace, with 527,000 boarding flights to the regions, up 11.3 percent from 474,000 tallied in the same period in 2019.

Some 2.63 million people traveled to North American and South America, accounting for 98.8 percent of the corresponding tally of 2.66 million logged in 2019.

The recovery rate of passengers heading to Japan was 75.5 percent, followed by the Asian region, except for Japan and China, with 73 percent and Oceania with 72.8 percent.

The number of passengers to Europe fell below the average recovery, accounting for 61.7 percent of the pre-pandemic level, partly due to the suspension of flights to Russia amid the ongoing war with Ukraine.

Additionally, 1.83 million passengers flew to China in the first half, only 21 percent of the pre-pandemic level. (Yonhap)