Incheon International Airport Corporation has issued an official statement pledging to maintain order and prevent recurrence, after footage of Chinese passengers rushing en masse toward check-in counters — in what has been described as "mass queue-jumping" — sparked growing controversy.
According to Incheon International Airport Corporation and industry sources on the 19th, the incident occurred around 7 a.m. on the 8th at Counter E (China Southern Airlines) on the third floor of Passenger Terminal 1 at Incheon Airport. As dozens of Chinese passengers waited for boarding procedures, they rushed under the barrier line all at once when the check-in counter opened, collapsing the queue.
Video capturing the scene spread rapidly on social media recently. Shortly after the footage was released, some netizens questioned its authenticity, asking, "Isn't this a video made with artificial intelligence (AI)?" However, similar situations were found to have occurred five times this month.
The passengers pushed their luggage carts, broke away from the queue, and crowded toward the counter. Staff members guiding order at the scene were pushed by the crowd and suffered injuries, including bruises and abrasions, according to reports.
Regarding the controversy, the corporation also explained that the interpretation raised on social media of "disorder at the arrival hall due to the visa-free policy" was inaccurate. The footage showed queue-jumping by passengers waiting for boarding procedures at an airline check-in counter in the departure hall, seeking to line up first, and had nothing to do with the visa-free entry policy, it said.
Airport authorities also see one of the causes as the recent change in aircraft type on some flights operating major routes between Incheon and China, from the Airbus A320 to the A350, which increased the number of seats per flight by about 100. As passengers on the same time slot converged all at once, competition to complete boarding procedures first became overheated, and mass queue-jumping was repeated in the process, according to the explanation.
Incheon International Airport Corporation decided to immediately implement measures to prevent recurrence in cooperation with the airline concerned. First, to physically block passengers from breaking away from the queue, it plans to install "two-tier tensa barriers" on the existing barrier line and to deploy additional on-site safety management personnel. It also plans to strengthen on-site order management by broadcasting digital notices with messages such as "No boarding procedures allowed if safety is threatened" through electronic display boards.
"This incident was a clear act of queue-jumping that occurred at Counter E on the third floor of Passenger Terminal 1," a corporation official said. "We will cooperate closely with the airline and do our best to maintain order within the airport and ensure passenger safety."
