Ulleungdo Island Airport

Ulleungdo (Ulleung, Ulleung-do, Ulreungdo) Island Airport is a proposed new airport construction project for the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, situated 120 kilometres east of the Korean Peninsula. The island falls under the administration of North Gyeongsang Province and is a popular tourist destination. The airport will feature an 1200m runway and is projected to cost a total of KRW632.5 billion (USD560.9 million) to build. The provincial government announced that construction of the airport will be complete by May-2025. 

Aug-2024. South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) plans to revise the deadline for the Ulleungdo Island Airport development project. Works are now expected to be completed by Dec-2027 and the airport is expected to be commissioned in 1H2028. The airport will require a KRW709.2 billion (USD529.51 million) investment to develop and will be equipped with a 1200m x 36m runway and a 3500sqm passenger terminal. Works commenced in Nov-2020 and have achieved 51% physical progress.

Jan-2024. North Gyeongsang Province reported works to develop Ulleungdo Island Airport have achieved 43.8% physical progress.

Mar-2023. North Gyeongsang Province reported works to develop Ulleungdo Island Airport have achieved 27.2% physical progress.

Aug-2022. North Gyeongsang Province reported works to develop Ulleungdo Island Airport have achieved 23.3% physical progress and are on track to reach 30% physical progress by the end of 2022. 

May-2022. North Gyeongsang Province reported works to develop Ulleungdo Island Airport have achieved 20% physical progress and are on track to reach 30% physical progress by the end of 2022. The airport will require a KRW690.4 billion (USD542.4 million) investment to develop and will be equipped with a 1200m runway and a 3500sqm passenger terminal. Works commenced in Nov-2020 and are expected to be completed in 2025.

Mar-2022. North Gyeongsang Province reported works to develop Ulleungdo Island Airport have achieved 15% physical progress and are on track to reach 30% physical progress by the end of 2022.

Aug-2021. Ulleungdo Island Airport development works are behind schedule due to rebar [steel bar] shortages, meaning the airport is unlikely to be completed and commissioned by its May-2025 deadline.

Jun-2019. South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) aims to commence works to develop Ulleungdo Island Airport in Apr-2020.

May-2019. South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) plans to issue a construction tender for the development of Ulleungdo Island Airport by the end of May-2019. MOLIT aims to award the contract in Oct-2019 in preparation for the commencement of works to develop the airport in 1H2020. Ulleungdo Airport will require a KRW663 billion (USD569.2 million) investment to development and is expected to be completed and commissioned by May-2025.

Jan-2019. South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance revised its budget estimate for the Ulleungdo Island Airport development project to KRW632.5 billion (USD560.9 million).

Jul-2018. South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) allocated KRW7.7 billion (USD6.9 million) for the development of Ulleungdo Island Airport. MOLIT said construction works for the airport project are scheduled to commence in 2019 and be completed by 2022.

Mar-2018. Busan Regional Aviation Administration (BRAA) completed the design for Ulleungdo Island Airport and urged South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to undertake the tender process and select a construction contractor to execute the airport development project by Jun-2018. The project will require an estimated investment of KRW560.3 billion (USD524.7 million).

May-2017. Ulleungdo Island Airport is seeking a new source of stone materials for reclamation works after South Korea's Ministry of Environment declined to approve the planned airport's agreement to purchase the materials from a quarry in the Busan region. 

Jun-2016. Ulleungdo Island Airport's development project will cost more than expected due to difficulty in transporting construction materials to the island. The proposed budget of KRW580.5 billion (USD499.7 million) may rise to an estimated KRW680 billion (USD585.5 million). Project investors POSCO Engineering & Construction and Daelim Industrial have since withdrawn their interest in the project citing unprofitability. The government plans to expand its investor search internationally.

Dec-2015. South Korea will commence contruction two small airports on two remote islands of Ulleung and Heuksan starting in 2017, according to South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The government expects to invest KRW580.5 billion (USD499.1 million) on constructing the airport for Ulleung and KRW183.5 billion (USD149 million) on Heuksan. The ministry said that the airports will both have one 1200m by 30m runway and will be able to accommodate 50-seat propeller-powered regional passenger aircraft. Bidding for the Ulleung Airport construction will be completed by the end of 2015 while competition to build the Heuksan Airport will be held in early 2016. The Ministry said: "Heuksan airport will be opened in 2020, with Ulleung to follow a year later," the ministry said.

Aug-2015. South Korea's North Gyeongsang Provincial Government said an airport will open on Ulleung Island in the East Sea by 2020. Following the Ministry of Environment's recent approval of the project, the local government plans to start construction in 2017. Construction is expected to cost KRW493 billion (USD410 million) with the airport to feature a 1100m runway, able to support operations of aircraft with a maximum of 50 seats. When completed, it will take an hour to reach the island from Seoul Gimpo. With the airport, the provincial government believes that the number of annual tourists to the island will double from the current 420,000.

Jan-2015. North Gyeongsang Province stated construction on the Ulleungdo Island Airport will commence in May-2015. Korea Transport Institute said the airport will increase the number of island tourists to 800,000 from the current annual 420,000 visitors.