'It's the first time I've seen so many people': Gimhae Airport lines a nightmare ahead of Lunar New Year

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'It's the first time I've seen so many people': Gimhae Airport lines a nightmare ahead of Lunar New Year

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI


Passengers wait to enter customs at Gimhae International Airport in South Gyeongsang on Jan. 17. [KIM MIN-JU]

Passengers wait to enter customs at Gimhae International Airport in South Gyeongsang on Jan. 17. [KIM MIN-JU]

 
“The end of the line for immigration is here!” a Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) employee shouted as confused passengers pushed and pulled their way through the pack at Gimhae International Airport in South Gyeongsang.
 
The worker’s words were directed at the endless crowd of people waiting to get screened. It was 7 a.m. on Friday, one of the busiest times for an airport, at the terminal for international flights — and even more hectic than usual.
 

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“If there were no such instructions, I wouldn’t have been able to find the end of the line,” said Jeon Sang-hyeon, 41, who was grasping her six-year-old child with her right hand and her bags with her left.
 
“I use Gimhae International Airport often for overseas business trips, but it’s the first time I’ve seen so many people here,” she said in exasperation. There was an hour and a half left until boarding, she said, and she kept looking at the time as the line very slowly inched forward.
 
The line for immigration measured 160 meters (525 feet). Those eager to save time, even just a little bit, crowded the biometric information registration desks. Passengers who preregister their passports, faces and palms can be screened more quickly at a counter that is open just for registered users.
 
Some places have experienced a human traffic bottleneck and had to involve workers to control the situation.
 
“The [disorganization] is worse ahead of the weekends on Fridays,” one worker said, adding that they were “guiding passengers so that an accident will not happen should they crowd into a tight space all at once.”
 
Passengers at Gimhae Airport wait to register their passports and biometric information at a registration desk on Jan. 17. Passengers who preregister their passports, faces and palms can be screened more quickly at a counter that is open just for registered users. [KIM MIN-JU]

Passengers at Gimhae Airport wait to register their passports and biometric information at a registration desk on Jan. 17. Passengers who preregister their passports, faces and palms can be screened more quickly at a counter that is open just for registered users. [KIM MIN-JU]

 
Such disarray worsened starting last month, sources from airlines that use Gimhae Airport and the KAC said Tuesday. Overcrowding peaks between 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., when a lot of carriers operate outbound flights, so much so that some travel agencies say they instruct customers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before boarding.
 
The overcrowding is due to a combined increase in airport users and flights amid a lack of airport security personnel. A total of 15.75 million people stopped by Gimhae Airport last year, an amount that is almost 93 percent of pre-Covid levels, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Even more people have been arriving since last December, when the airport added 84 flights across seven routes.
 
Airlines say the disorganization has intensified because the airport failed to dispatch enough security personnel while its flights and passengers increased.
 
Around 400 security workers, including those who work in screening and plane security, work at Gimhae Airport, according to the Korea Airport Security Corporation (KASC), a security subsidiary of the KAC. The company hired 540 people between January to November of last year; more than 500 quit their jobs during the same period. Of the 500, 320 quit voluntarily.
 
Only 98 percent of the required crew is currently at Gimhae Airport. When the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, visited the airport on Friday, only eight of the nine screening counters were operating.
 
An airport employee guides people at Gimhae Airport on Jan. 17 as they crowd into the same space at once, creating a potentially dangerous traffic bottleneck. [KIM MIN-JU]

An airport employee guides people at Gimhae Airport on Jan. 17 as they crowd into the same space at once, creating a potentially dangerous traffic bottleneck. [KIM MIN-JU]

 
The KASC says Gimhae Airport, compared to other airports, has a poor working environment that forces people to quit, including excessive working-day requirements. Employees work 290 days at Gimhae Airport while those of Incheon International Airport work 208, according to the KASC.
 
The long wait time for immigration screening has led to airplanes frequently taking off later than scheduled. Almost 30 flights operated by Korean Air and Air Busan were delayed last week because of “security checkpoint congestion.”
 
The delay was “caused by a problem in airport personnel, but many passengers blame it on the carrier. There are a lot of hardships dealing with an increase in such complaints,” an airline employee said.
 
The Airport Operator’s Committee (AOC), which comprises 18 airlines, eventually met with the airport's management on Jan. 16 to resolve the problem. The AOC emphasized that congestion at security should be fixed ahead of the Lunar New Year, when even more passengers are expected.
 
More than 1.3 million people are expected to travel overseas during the upcoming extended Lunar New Year holiday, according to data from Incheon International Airport and the KAC. Gimhae Airport is expected to handle 158,000 travelers.
 
“We are considering opening the building earlier than its current 5:40 a.m. start so that passengers can start checking in earlier, which we are discussing with the customs, immigration and quarantine divisions,” a spokesperson for the KAC said.
 
“To reduce confusion in waiting lines, we have 20 employees on site who instruct passengers. We will add eight more from Jan. 24, the start of the Lunar New Year,” the KAC worker said.

BY KIM MIN-JU [[email protected]]
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