Incheon International Airport

Incheon International Airport is situated on the western side of Seoul in the Yeongjong Island in the Yellow Sea. Starting operations in early 2001, it has become the sixth busiest airport in Asia. In 2005 AETRA passenger survey voted Incheon International Airport as the best airport in the world. It provides a range of services and its world-class facilities are safe, convenient and economical for travelers in Korea. Incheon International Airport is not merely a center of transportation but also serves as a multipurpose complex.

Taking over the international functions of the old Gimpo Airport, Incheon International Airport serves as a centre for international civilian transport and cargo traffic in East Asia. It has the most modernized technological equipment to take care of the security system and the epidemics. The airport security task force consists of well trained police officers from the Cheongdong Police Department. The security serves round the clock for 24 hours and patrols the airport perimeter, passenger terminal, transportation center, ancillary facilities and free economic zones. They are well equipped with modern gears and well trained to handle terrorist threats and epidemics in the region.

Incheon International Airport has two fire departments responsible for emergency fire situations and rescue operations. The fire fighters will be available within 2 – 3 minutes for any incidents on the runway passenger terminal and facilities around it.

Incheon International Airport ranks second in ‘Best Airport Worldwide’ next only to Hong Kong International Airport and ahead of Singapore International Airport. The main passenger terminal is the largest in Korea and the third largest in the world. It was built using the most modern technology measuring 496,000 square meters.
The passenger terminal has 44 boarding ports , 50 custom inspection ports, 2 biological quarantine counters, 6 stationary counters and 14 passenger quarantine corners to check epidemics. There are 120 passport inspection counters, 8 arrival ports, 28 departure security ports252 check-in counters and 120 departure passport inspection counters, to enable quick and prompt service. The basement of the terminal is a shopping complex that houses for cafeterias, coffee shops, restaurants, book stores, beauty salons supermarkets, medical stores, pastry shops, etc. The first floor is the arrival floor where the passengers arrive after going through customs checking on arrival. Passengers will also find helpdesk, fast food centers, foreign money exchange counters and the Millennium Hall on this floor. The third floor has duty free shops, convenient stores, security check points for departure, passport inspection counters and the waiting rooms.The fourth floor has various departure lounges and gives a special view of the airport. It also has the VIP lounge. Incheon International Airport is designed to handle 31,000 pieces of baggage per hour. It has a centralized computer controlled tilt tray system that reads barcode and automatically routes them to their correct destinations.

The Cargo Terminals feature high tech technologies. Equipped with three cargo terminals, five warehouses, parking stands and the administration office, it is designed to process 2.7 million tones of cargo per year. The advance computerized logistic system has simplified logistic solutions.
Incheon International Airport has two parallel runways in operation – 15R/33L and 15R/33R. One is use for landing and the other for departure. The runway lights are tied into computers controlled from the Control Tower. The Control Tower is a 22storyed, well illuminated building located at the center of the airport. It covers an area of 179 square meter making it the third largest in the world.

Incheon, International Airport is the only airport in Asia that has CAT-IIIb certification which enables flights to land under low visibility conditions up to 50 meters. Three Radar sites are used to detect planes near the airport. The Airport Surveillance Radar collects information from three radar sites using the ARTS and displays it to the control. The Metereological System at the Incheon International Airport to detect weather changes and forecast weather reports for flight operations. It consists of an Automated Weather Observation System, Low level Wind shear Alert System, Terminus Doppler Weather Doppler Radar, Weather Station headquarter and a Weather Balloon Launching facility.

The state of the art facilities available at Incheon International Airport makes it one of the best in the world. Since 2002, it has won the award for the Best Airport Award, for three consecutive years. In January 2007, it has won the GT Tested Award for the Best Airport in the World. The airport is free from any serious accident or incident till date.

Incheon International Airport is well connected with rail, port and roadways. Buses and Taxi are easily available from the area just outside the airport.

AsiaRooms.com offers detail description of Incheon International Airport.