32 I Airport update
However, cutting-edge biometric screening technologies that are increasingly being introduced – such as the facial recognition software being implemented at Changi International Airport’s new Terminal 4 – will not be employed as yet. Terminal 2 will also be getting consumer-focused
features such as a variety of F&B outlets offering Korean cuisine from different regions across the country, and even a cosmetic surgery facility. Transit amenities are being designed to be “green and ecofriendly”, and duty free, which Chung notes is “the number one duty free in the world”, will also be further improved at the new terminal. (Business Traveller readers voted Incheon Airport the “Best Duty Free in the World” at the 2017 Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Awards, see page 34 for full results.)
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE Yet even with the completion of its third phase project, Incheon Airport’s passenger handling troubles won’t be over. The additional 18 million capacity will provide breathing room for three years, but passenger levels are again expected to outstrip existing infrastructure by 2020. This is what the additional 4 million won expansion plan aims to tackle. Planning and design for this fourth phase, which will comprise the northeasternmost part of the H-shaped terminal building, began in May and will continue through to early next year, with construction expected to begin at the end of 2018. These enhancements are scheduled for completion by 2023, by which point the airport will be able to
NOVEMBER 2017
Above: Greenery inside T2’s Arrival Hall
handle 100 million passengers annually. Aside from meeting immediate capacity demands, the plan also encompasses entertainment and leisure facilities. Back in April, the new Paradise City integrated resort and casino opened its doors close to the Terminal 1 building. A new project, the Inspire Integrated Resort, is also on the way, part of a collaboration with US resort casino company Mohegan Sun and Korean chemicals manufacturer KCC. Being built at a cost of US$5 billion, the resort will be located on Yeongjong Island near the airport and is due to open in 2020. A new golf course – the airport’s second on site – is also in the pipeline and similarly has a 2020 opening date. “What’s more important for us is to expand further and actually build an ‘Air City’ with the airport at its centre,” says Chung. “It will include hotels, resorts, casinos and even catering, and we have plans for that up to 2030.” Chung adds that the main goal of the airport is to make it fun for passengers as well as convenient, such that transit passengers could spend four hours or up to a whole day at the airport. As for further expansions or even a third terminal, Chung says these could also be on the cards, though that depends on how growth projections play out. Despite the airport’s booming growth, current levels aren’t expected to continue at quite the same rate over the long term. “We will think about the fifth phase, or perhaps a new terminal,” he says, “but that would have to depend on whether we actually need to expand further and what our demand projections are.”n
businesstraveller.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78
