Incheon Airport’s 30-year expansion ends with USD4 billion 4th phase

Incheon International Airport, the one handling international passenger traffic for the South Korean capital and most of the freight, is one of the world's most important airports, and it stands poised potentially to take on an even more significant regional role.

The South Korean government has consistently stuck to its guns on infrastructure improvements there, a series of schemes that dates back seamlessly over almost 30 years and which are now culminating in the fourth development phase, which will take the airport's capacity to more than 100 million passengers a year, and Seoul's total capacity to pushing 150 mppa.

Several other airports in the region are pushing ahead with major infrastructure schemes, but Incheon in particular is subject to numerous variables, including a persistent, unrelenting pandemic, the merger of the two main airlines and - after a very slow start out of the blocks - rapid acceptance of low cost airlines.