Incheon Airport Terminal 1 overhaul targets 2035 completion

Incheon International Airport, Korea's main gateway, will have its aging Terminal 1 completely renovated by 2035, the airport operator said Tuesday, noting that the airport authority plans to spend over 1.77 trillion won ($129 billion) to that end.

Under the project led by Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), aging mechanical, electrical, telecommunication and firefighting systems built 25 years ago will be replaced to meet current safety regulations. The baggage handling system will also be upgraded from selective screening to 100 percent screening.

"We plan to complete the design by September next year and break ground in 2028," Cho Sung-mi, head of IIAC's corporate strategy team, was quoted as saying in a press briefing at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

The airport operator plans to incorporate lessons from Schiphol Airport — a 60-year-old European hub undergoing a 16 trillion-won comprehensive redesign of existing facilities due to a lack of land for a new airport — according to Cho.

The planned renovation will also integrate Incheon Airport's currently fragmented six departure and arrival halls into a unified system, while rearranging its duty-free and commercial areas to optimize passenger flows.

To maintain operations, the renovation will divide the terminal into at least three zones for sequential construction. The IIAC is also reviewing an alternative plan to build a temporary replacement terminal to allow for a full, simultaneous overhaul of Terminal 1, leveraging its spare land, Cho said.

Once the renovation is complete, Terminal 1's annual passenger capacity is projected to increase from 54 million to 64 million.

Yonhap