Incheon Airport says T2 operations ‘stable’

After a rocky start that included 900 pieces of left baggage on 10 Korean Air flights, the corporation managing Incheon International Airport said Sunday that operations at its new passenger terminal were stable.

The opening of Terminal 2 on Thursday was overshadowed by a series of flight delays and passenger jets leaving without customers’ luggage.

“Considering the inconveniences on the first day, we have strengthened monitoring of the overall baggage handling system,” an airport representative said. “Flight delays and cases of people going to the wrong terminal have also been greatly reduced over the last couple of days.”

The airport said the terminal handled 723 flights with 160,000 passengers carrying 150,000 pieces of luggage through Saturday. The airport expected roughly 58,000 passengers to use the new terminal on Sunday, encompassing 251 flights.

The problem of left baggage did not occur after the first day, according to the airport, and though flight delays and confusion over terminals continued afterward, they occurred at a much lower rate.

About 21 percent of flights were delayed on the first day due to late plane arrivals, passengers struggling to find the right gate and heavy air traffic, according to the airport.

The next day, however, the rate dropped to 8.5 percent, the airport said. The number of travelers going to the wrong terminal showed a gradual decline, from 264 on the first day to 242 on the second day and 186 on the third day.

Terminal 2 is being used by four airlines under the international alliance SkyTeam: Korean Air, Delta, Air France and KLM. It was built to handle 18 million passengers a year, boosting the airport’s total annual capacity to 72 million when combined with the existing Terminal 1.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]