Japanese airlines say the number of passengers on domestic flights during the Bon summer holidays has increased, but the figure is less than expected and still below the pre-pandemic level.

Eleven Japanese carriers say a total of about 3.86 million passengers flew domestically between August 10 and 20. That is up about 15 percent from the same period last year.

About 2.83 million flew with either All Nippon Airways or Japan Airlines.

The two airline majors say their passenger numbers recovered to around 93 percent of the figure marked during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.

But they say the recovery was lower than expected, citing the cancelation of many flights when Severe Tropical Storm Lan made landfall on Tuesday last week.

Meanwhile, about 460,000 people headed to international destinations with the two carriers during the holidays. That is up about 76 percent from last year. The airlines say flights from Japan to Hawaii and Seoul were particularly popular.

But they say passenger numbers on international flights have only reached 68 percent of the figure in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.