Incheon airport shares expertise for Uzbekistan airport projects

Incheon International Airport’s expertise, developed since its 2001 opening, is being exported to Central Asia. Incheon International Airport Corp. said on Oct. 16 that it signed an operations service contract with Saudi infrastructure investment firm Vision Invest, which won the bid to develop Tashkent’s new airport in Uzbekistan. The $3.6 billion project will become a major Central Asian hub capable of handling 54 million passengers annually once completed.

Incheon Airport Corp. will provide consulting on airport construction and operations, passenger services, information technology, and facility maintenance. The company is expected to earn about $25.4 million over the next five years. Medium- and long-term expansion plans include equity investment and the establishment of a local operations subsidiary.

The company also signed a development and operations agreement with Uzbekistan Airports Corp. for Urgench Airport, near the UNESCO World Heritage site of Khiva. A new terminal with a capacity of three million passengers per year will be built over three years, after which Incheon Airport Corp. will operate the airport for 19 years.

“This marks a major step in exporting our world-class airport operations capabilities overseas,” said Lee Hak-jae, president of Incheon International Airport Corp. He added that the company plans to use Central Asia as a foothold for expansion into the Middle East and beyond.

Since beginning work on the new Erbil airport in Iraq in 2009, Incheon Airport Corp. has completed 39 projects in 18 countries, with a total value of about $400 million.


Kum-Chun Hwang kchwang@donga.com