Incheon Airport expects record number of summer flights in 2024

Incheon International Airport [Courtesy of Incheon International Airport]

Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) announced on Monday that the number of flights at the airport during the summer season (late March to late October) in 2024 is expected to be the highest ever since its opening.

According to the corporation, the slot allocation for IIAC in 2024 is projected to be over 277,000, the highest ever and an average of around 1,294 times per day.

A slot refers to the number of times an aircraft lands or takes off at an airport, and securing slots is essential for an airline to operate at a specific airport.

This projection was the result of negotiations with 95 airlines regarding flight schedules at the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s Slot Conference, which took place at Dubai World Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates from November 14 to 17 (local time).

The slot allocation for 2024 is expected to increase by 33.8 percent compared to the summer performance of 206,913 times in 2023. It is also an 18.5 percent increase from the pre-Covid-19 pandemic peak of 233,648 times in 2019, according to IIAC.

For passenger flights, agreements on new slot allocations were reached with airlines such as Swiss International Air Lines AG (Switzerland), Air Japan Co. (Japan), and WestJet Airlines Ltd. (Canada), and agreements on increased flights were reached with airlines including Delta Air Lines, Inc., United Airlines, Inc., and Emirates.

For cargo flights, agreements on increased flights were made with airlines such as Atlas Air, Inc., FedEx Express, Polar Air Cargo Worldwide Inc., and Maersk Air Cargo.

“As large foreign airlines add new flights on long-haul routes and expand existing routes, we expect the stabilization of airfares on long-haul sectors, which have tended to rise due to supply shortages, to help ease inflation,” IIAC CEO Lee Hak-jae said.