Incheon Airport aims to become world’s fifth-largest airport

Incheon Airport aims to become the fifth-largest airport in the world, able to handle 66 million international passengers a year by 2020, the airport’s new CEO said Monday.

To reach that goal, Incheon International Airport Corp. CEO Chung Il-young vowed to upgrade its infrastructure, service facilities, human resources and airline network. 

“Our facilities have grown old, and must be restored and maintained. The number of passengers has also grown threefold, leading to various complaints,” he said at a press briefing held at the airport. “On the software side, we want to become a smart airport that makes good use of information technology.”

Currently, Incheon is the eighth-busiest airport in the world, with a little under 50 million total passengers, and roughly 7.4 million transfer passengers annually.

By 2020, the airport also wants to have about 10 million people visiting Incheon as a gateway to other destinations.

The announcement came after Incheon airport came under fire after security loopholes were exposed earlier this year, tarnishing its long-held positive reputation.

In January, a Vietnamese man was found to have entered the country illegally through an automatic immigration gate and a couple from China were also caught after they slipped through security in the airport. Concerns have also been raised over delays caused by luggage mishandling.

Chung said that improving the airport’s facilities and gearing up efforts to open a second terminal by 2017 would be necessary to address recent concerns about security.

“There were some weaknesses in our facilities, and we have fixed the most pressing concerns,” Chung said. “We are also adding more shutters and additional facilities to shut down any remaining possibilities of illegal entry.”

Chung who took office in February said that the ultimate goal was to create fast, reliable service. The airport is also plans to expand the number of airlines using Incheon Airport from 90 to 110 by 2020.

“I don’t believe that an airport that only serves Koreans flying in and out of the country is a competitive airport,” he said.

“Without the ‘hub’ aspect, it is just a Korean airport. We must successfully compete against airports in other countries to bring in more airplanes, more passengers, and more business.” 

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)