People at Incheon International Airport / Yonhap

Over 1.34 million Koreans are expected to travel overseas during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, when many will likely take extra leave to further extend the period to up to 10 days, according to industry data Wednesday.

According to the data from the Incheon International Airport and the Korea Airports submitted to the office of Rep. Yeom Tae-young of the main opposition Democratic Party, 1,340,295 passengers were projected to travel overseas via six international airports in the country between Friday and Feb. 2

Of those, 1.04 million are expected to depart from Incheon International Airport, the country's main gateway located just west of Seoul, while 293,649 passengers are expected to go abroad from regional airports in Gimhae, Jeju and Daegu.

Officials expect Saturday to have the largest number of departing passengers at 153,000, while Tuesday, the eve of Lunar New Year Day, is projected to see the fewest departures, with 115,000 anticipated passengers.

To accommodate the surge in demand, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has increased the total number of flights by 7 percent to 19,351 and expanded available seating capacity by 5.8 percent to 4.22 million seats.

The holiday season was originally set to last only three days, as this year's Lunar New Year Day falls on next Wednesday, but the government designated Monday as a temporary national holiday, extending the holiday season to six days. (Yonhap)