Incheon Airport has completed an operational inspection ahead of its first Jeju route in 10 years.
Incheon International Airport Corporation announced on the 7th that it has completed a comprehensive inspection of the entire check-in facility and operating system ahead of the resumption of ‘Incheon-Jeju domestic direct flight route’ scheduled for the 12th.
The resumption of domestic flights was promoted as part of a major shift in tourism to Korea discussed at the 11th National Tourism Strategy Meeting chaired by the President held in February.
At the meeting at that time, the need to expand domestic routes to allow foreign tourists entering Incheon Airport to easily move to local areas was raised in order to globalize ‘K-tourism’ and take a leap in regional tourism.
Based on this consensus, domestic flights were resumed at Incheon Airport by obtaining approval for the Incheon-Jeju route from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last month.
It has been about 10 years since the airline stopped operating the Incheon-Jeju route in October 2016 due to lack of passenger demand. Starting on the 12th, Jeju Air will operate the Incheon-Jeju route twice a week (one flight per day).
Unlike international passenger check-in, which is carried out on the 3rd floor of Incheon Airport, domestic flight check-in is carried out on the first floor of the east side of Incheon Airport’s Terminal 1. To ensure smooth passenger check-in, the Corporation has completed inspection and repair of the departure and arrival check-in facilities and baggage check-in system for domestic flights.
In addition, the online and offline passenger information system was strengthened by completely reorganizing the information signage in the passenger terminal so that domestic passengers can move without confusion and updating the domestic flight information page on the Incheon Airport website (https://www.airport.kr).
On the 6th, a ‘domestic flight operation inspection test run’ was conducted jointly with related organizations such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, airlines, and security agencies. Assuming a real situation, including deploying about 80 virtual passengers arriving and departing, we checked the preparation status of the entire process from check-in, baggage check-in, security search, and boarding the aircraft.
Also, on this day, a final on-site inspection of the domestic flight operating facilities was conducted under the supervision of Kim Beom-ho, acting president of Incheon International Airport Corporation. On this day, Acting President Kim received a briefing on the preparation status of each major facility, including △check-in counters, △security screening areas, and △baggage claim area, along the passenger flow route, and personally confirmed the status of preparations for flawless operation of domestic routes.
Kim Beom-ho, acting president of Incheon International Airport Corporation, said, “We plan to do our best to prepare for operation by mobilizing all of Incheon Airport’s capabilities to successfully resume Jeju domestic routes for the first time in 10 years.” He added, “We will continue to enhance the convenience of overseas travel for the people by strengthening the connection between Incheon Airport and local regions, such as expanding domestic routes as a national gateway airport, and actively support the government’s goal of revitalizing local tourism and achieving 30 million foreign tourists.”
Meanwhile, Incheon Airport is operated by 101 airlines serving 183 cities in 53 countries. The plan is to further strengthen its gateway role by strengthening connections with major domestic regions, such as new direct domestic flights (Incheon-Jeju), increased flights for transfer-only domestic flights (4 more flights on the Incheon-Gimhae route), and expansion of airport bus routes.
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