Airline passenger news and views

When one reads that an airport has been rated Best Worldwide each year since 2005 by a range of agencies including Business Traveler Magazine, Global Traveler, CAPA and Skytrax, one assumes that it is a tip-of-the-tongue name. Actually, this one is not, it is Incheon, the international airport of South Korea, which serves the Seoul national capital area.

In terms of ratings, Incheon is right up there with Hong Kong international and Singapore's Changi airport.

Incheon is the main hub for Korean Air and the smaller Asiana Airlines and ranks as Asia's eighth busiest passenger airport but also the world's second busiest in terms of international cargo and freight.

Incheon replaced the older Gimpo airport in 2001 leaving Gimpo serving mostly domestic traffic plus some regional shuttle flights to Tokyo, Shanghai etc.

In a testament to the growth of the region, the expansion plans for Incheon run through to 2020 when it is expected to boast five parallel runways and be capable of handling 100 million passengers and 7 million metric tones of cargo per year (compare Heathrow at 65 million passengers).

With the growing importance of the China markets, Incheon is set to be one very important airport.

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