The modernization and expansion project for the Incheon International Airport began in June 2009 with an aim to make the airport a hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Air traffic in the region has expanded rapidly, with the fastest growth seen in China. Steady liberalization of air travel will only spur further growth.
The project has progressed to its third stage. The launch of the second passenger terminal project was marked recently with a ceremony attended by some 1,300 people from all walks of life.. The modern passenger terminal will be built at the cost of 4.1 trillion won, taking up 84 percent of the total budget for the expansion project.
Since the 1990s, the government was aware of the importance of logistics through the air and making Korea a hub in Northeast Asia. Incheon Int'l airport has been at the center of that plan.
The government understands the strategic advantage that an airport in Incheon would have over airports in both Japan and China. The government’s systematic and steady policies for Incheon Int'l airport since the 1990s have helped the airport become eighth in terms of total annual passengers and second in cargo. The number of the airport’s foreign airlines doubled since 2001, when it opened, and air routes originating from the airport expanded 1.7 times from 47 in 2001 to 184 in 2014.
Last year, the airport won top place in the airport service evaluation conducted by the ICAO for the ninth year in a row. Incheon Int'l Airport’s high reputation has had a positive effect on Korea’s international competition with Korea becoming a member country of the ICAO board of directors five years in a row from 2001 to show that Korea is a strong country in the area of global air transport.
The number of air passengers has increased around 25 percent annually since 2006, following an agreement to liberalize air travel with Shandong Province in China.
China has been no exception among Asian countries to build hub airports to get a bigger share of the aviation market in Asia, plunking down heavy investments. China began to refurbish the Beijing airport as part of its hub airport strategy. Japan also has been working on a strategy to boost its position in Asia’s airline industry by expanding its aviation facilities and air traffic network to recapture the air traffic it has lost to Incheon, fanning stiff competition in the aviation industry in Asia.
Incheon Int'l Airport handles around 25 percent of total logistical transportation in the country and the third stage expansion project will strengthen the logistics base of Korea enough to boost it the top logistics center of Asia.
Korea is strategically located between China and Japan. The number of outbound Chinese tourists is projected to total around 100 million by 2020. The three-stage expansion project for Incheon Int'l airport has been a timely enterprise to boost Korea’s competitive power in the areas of tourism business and service.
Incheon Int'l Airport’s “hub airport of the Asia-Pacific” goal will provide a big help to improving Korea’s national competitive power by creating new growth engines through fusion among industries under the Creative Economy Drive, which is being pushed by the government.
Experts note that Incheon Int'l Airport’s ascension to be a hub airport in the Asia-Pacific region would bring 24.6 trillion won worth of economic benefits to the country, excluding other benefits that would follow with Korea’s heightened reputation. There will be an increase in foreign tourists and other intangible benefits.
The third stage expansion project involves the construction of the second passenger terminal, the construction of a system connecting the terminals and airport hangars, among others, so that the airport would be able to handle some 60 million passengers annually.
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