Seoul Incheon discounts landing fees to attract new airlines

Seoul Incheon (ICN) is discounting landing fees in an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at attracting new airlines to South Korea’s main international airport. ICN is offering a 100% discount on landing fees for new carriers in their first year of operation at the airport, followed by 75% off in the second year and a 50% reduction in year three.

ICN executive VP Young-Geun Lee told ATW that the airport generated $1.1 billion in revenue in 2011. He said that 65% of the airport’s business comes from “non-aviation [sources] like duty-free sales.”

ICN opened in 2001 and operates 410,000 flights annually, slated to grow to 530,000 by 2020. Some 70 airlines serve 176 cities from ICN. “Within three flight hours, we have 61 cities with populations over one million people,” Lee said.

The new T2 terminal is under construction and should be in service in 2017, adding an additional capacity of 18 million passengers at a cost of $4 billion, Lee said. After T2 opens, the next expansion phase will include constructing a fourth and fifth runway.

ICN handled about 35 million passengers and 2.5 million tons of cargo in its six cargo terminals last year. It is the world’s second largest international cargo airport after Hong Kong. Lee said that 50% of ICN’s cargo volume is in transit. Some 36 widebody freighter parking stands are available. By 2020, 7 million tons of cargo should pass through ICN, according to Lee.