Will new Gimpo-Beijing route threaten Incheon airport`s status?

Korea and China have agreed to open an air route between Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul and Beijing in July and operate four daily flights on the route, the Korean Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.

Concluded under a memorandum of understanding, the deal, which will complete an air route linking Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo, was concluded 27 months after Korea and China agreed in January 2009 to open the route.

The new route will allow travel to and from the capitals of Korea, China and Japan within a day.

○ Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo within a day

The new route will help reduce the time and cost for companies trading with China and raise the number of Chinese tourists to Korea.

According to the Transport Ministry, those who use Gimpo airport instead of Incheon International Airport will cut travel time by 50 to 60 minutes and airfare by 5,000 to 56,000 won (4.60 to 52 U.S. dollars).

In particular, the opening completes a triangular air route linking Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo, allowing travelers to move among the three capitals within the same day.

Just like the Gimpo-Tokyo (Haneda Airport) route opened in 2003, the Gimpo-Beijing route is a shuttle route that uses an intra-city airport in the capital of each country.

Korea Airports Corp., which operates domestic airports excluding the Incheon airport, estimated that the new route will mean 460,000 additional air passengers for the Gimpo airport.

A corporation source said, “Increases in airfare, landing charges and rent stemming from a rise in duty-free shop sales will raise the airport’s revenue.”

○ Status of Incheon airport feared to weaken

Strictly speaking, the Gimpo-Beijing route is not a new opening but a transfer, as part of the operation of the Incheon-Beijing route was allocated to the Gimpo-Beijing route.

On this, the ministry said, “Due to lack of slots (available takeoff and landing time slots) at Beijing International Airport and a supply glut on the Incheon-Beijing route, China was not actively engaged in the establishment of the Gimpo-Beijing route.”

To seal the deal, the Korean government agreed to transfer part of flights to Beijing by Korean Air (18 flights per week) and Asiana Airlines (24 per week) from Incheon to Gimpo.

This led critics to say Seoul got caught up in Beijing`s plot to prevent the growth of the Incheon airport.

A source at Korean Air said, “If flight demand between Incheon and Beijing is distributed to Gimpo, the status of Incheon International Airport as a hub airport will weaken,” adding, “This follows China’s attempt to foster Beijing International Airport.”

○ Korean Air frets over deal

The Korean aviation industry, however, said behind this claim lies Korean Air’s fear over losing ground to Asiana on the Beijing route. If both airliners transfer seven flights per week to Gimpo, Korean Air has just 11 flights left in Incheon, rendering it unable to operate two flights a day while Asiana can do so with its remaining 17 flights.

This will narrow Korean Air customers’ scope of choice, undermining the carrier`s competitiveness.

Incheon International Airport Corp. is not happy over the deal, either, as the deal will cut the number of its customers and sales.

A source at the airport corporation said, “The number of passengers on the Incheon-Beijing route over the past three years was 1.16 million to 1.43 million, and 20 percent of them will go to Gimpo should the new route begin operating.”

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