[Opinion] World’s Best Incheon Airport

Incheon International Airport was selected the world’s best airport for three consecutive years. The Airports Council International assessed services provided in more than 100 airports in the world. The organization recently announced that the Incheon airport was chosen as the world’s best. As ACI has 1,647 airports in 175 nations as its members, it is called, “the UN of airports.” No airport has been selected the best for three successive years except Incheon International Airport. The award ceremony will be held on April 1 in Shanghai, China.

Incheon International Airport received remarkable evaluation in its services sector. It scored top marks in 30 out of 34 service factors such as general satisfaction, fast security search and inspection of passport and visa. Incheon International Airport was ranked second in the rest four factors. In 2002 when the airport opened, it came in fifth place in two areas. It underwent drastic improvements. The ranking in departure formalities leapt from 16th to first after authorities reduced the needed time from 20 minutes to seven minutes, and from 17th to top (40 minutes to 25 minutes) for hand baggage. This is an amazing achievement for a seven-year-old airport.

After Lee Jae-hee took office as CEO in 2005, the airport implemented its CS management system and pushed ahead with its improvement program. The result was a success. Incheon International Airport will keep its landing fee at the 50 percent level of Japan and 70 percent of China. It even lowered the fee by 10 percent in January this year. If the second phase project including the third runway is completed in May, its annual passenger capacity will increase from 30 million to 44 million.

To be the best airport is difficult, but to keep the place is more difficult. Incheon International Airport is implementing the new project to meet demand in 2015. Starting the third-phase project early is a big task. China’s Beijing Capital Airport, Shanghai Pudong Airport and Singapore’s Changi Airport are already prepared for an era of 70 million passengers per year. Service competition is unstoppable, too. Lee Kang-seok, a professor of the department of air transportation and aviation administration at Hanseo University, said, “One Japanese airport has a hot spring inside its terminal. We also need specialized strategies such as combining Korean culture with services provided in the airport."

Editorial writer Bang Hyeon-nam (hnbhang@donga.com)