Foreign consulting firm strongly recommends revision of new airport opening

An aviation consulting firm in the United States recommended rescheduling the full-fledged opening Incheon airport, the Incheon International Airport Corp (IIAC) said Tuesday. In a report on its recent safety and airport systems inspection, DLiA Aviation Consulting Consortium identified 23 problems and advised the IIAC to reconsider the timing of the airport`s grand opening. The new airport is slated to go into operation on Mar. 27.

A consortium of Deutsche Aero Consultant and La Mier International of Germany and Air Plan of Australia, DLiA began its inspection of Incheon airport in January. In its report, the consortium advised airport authorities to keep flights to a minimum during the initial opening period, saying current preparations have not brought service up to the desired level. DLiA said that Incheon airport authorities need to develop more Operation Contingency Plans (OPCs) and a better training program for test flights, including foreign airliners, and put in place an Airlines Operation Committee (AOC).

The report also said the Baggage Handling System (BHS) was not able to run at full capacity and cited incomplete connections between Computer Technical X-rays (CTX) used for scanning bags. Responding to the report, an airport spokesman said, ``Most of the problems DLiA singled out one month ago have already been solved or are being addressed.`` He went on to say that based on current training programs and ongoing efforts to stabilize operations, IIAC authorities saw no problem with opening the airport as scheduled.

[Yonhap]