SEOUL - Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main gateway, will have its aged Terminal 1 completely renovated by 2035, the operator of the airport said Tuesday, noting the airport authority plans to spend over 1.77 trillion won (US$129 billion) to that end.
Under the project led by Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC), aging mechanical, electrical, telecommunication and firefighting systems built 25 years ago will be replaced to meet current safety regulations. The baggage handling system (BHS) will also be upgraded from selective screening to a 100 percent screening system.
"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 the 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 completed, Terminal 1's annual passenger capacity is projected to increase from the current 54 million up to 64 million.
