Incheon International Airport is expected to see record-level congestion this summer, with more than 3.77 million passengers passing through during the vacation season. The Incheon International Airport Corporation will implement special traffic measures, including early opening of departure gates and expansion of Smart Pass services, to disperse passenger traffic.
According to the Incheon International Airport Corporation on the 27th, a total of 3,772,886 passengers are expected to use Incheon Airport during the summer vacation season from the 25th of this month through Aug. 10, averaging 221,934 per day.
The busiest day is projected to be Aug. 2, when 234,273 passengers are expected to use Incheon Airport. Departing passengers are forecast to peak at 120,951 on July 25, while arriving passengers are forecast to peak at 121,812 on Aug. 2.
Passenger numbers during this year's summer peak season are expected to exceed those of the same period last year, which totaled 3.7 million, averaging 218,000 per day. The corporation said its analysis of recent passenger trends showed that Koreans' demand for overseas travel is concentrated around the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays, while airport congestion in summer could increase due to a rise in foreign tourists visiting Korea.
Accordingly, to ease congestion at departure areas, the corporation will open major departure gates 30 minutes earlier than usual and operate up to 44 state-of-the-art security screening devices (CT X-ray). It also plans to expand Smart Pass-only departure gates from four to five and deploy about 120 guidance staff to manage congestion and assist with smart processing.
In addition, to prepare for the increase in foreign tourists, the corporation will relocate the quarantine station at the Terminal 2 arrival area to expand waiting space and strengthen customized services, including operating multilingual AI guidance kiosks and self-driving guidance robots.
The corporation has secured an additional 3,061 passenger parking spaces and increased shuttle bus service at long-term parking lots. As parking congestion is expected during the peak season, it encouraged the use of public transportation such as railways and airport buses.
"During this year's summer peak season, we expect strong demand for overseas travel by Koreans as well as demand for inbound tourism by foreigners," said Kim Beom-ho, acting president of the Incheon International Airport Corporation. "We will intensively manage entry routes, multilingual guidance, and smart services so that foreign tourists can experience convenient and safe service from the moment they arrive in Korea."
