If you’re ever planning to visit Korea – you’re likely to come through Incheon International Airport if you’re travelling from outside Asia. In this article, I provide info on the best rated airport in the world, why and when the Incheon International Airport was constructed and what it can offer to its passengers and users.
Incheon International Airport is the largest of the eight International airports in South Korea and one of the largest airports in the world in terms of scale and its workforce. Incheon International Airport ranks eighth as Asia’s busiest airport, the world’s fourth busiest airport by cargo traffic and the world’s ninth busiest airport in terms of international passengers according to a 2013 report.
The Seoul Olympics was held in 1988, which resulted in the rise of air traffic, so during the ‘90s the Gimpo Airport needed an alternative due to the fact it could not manage the increased number of passengers. The construction of the Incheon airport began in November, in the year of 1992 and after nearly a decade of construction and preparation the airport was officially open in March of 2001. Just in time before the 2002 World Cup was held in Korea.
Even though Incheon is not within Seoul, the airport is located and built so that travelling to Seoul and other cities in Korea can be done easily. The Incheon International Airport Railroad, plus the Airport subway line connect to Seoul Station. The regular trains, which stops at all stations takes about 50 minutes to reach Seoul Station.
Other than the airport service, the airport provides a golf course, spa, private sleeping rooms, an ice skating rink, a casino and a Museum of Korean Culture. (Some sources say that this airport is said to be quite comfortable and super safe to sleep in as well)
The Incheon International Airport is known for its efficiency since it holds record for being one of the fastest for custom processing. The average departure and arrival takes only 19 minutes (The world-wide industry’s average is 60 mins) and 12 minutes (45 mins) respectively, which is considerably faster than the airports in other countries. The airport is also proud to state; it has only a 0.0001% rate of baggage mishandling, making it great news for passengers making Incheon International Airport not only a highly efficient, but a trustworthy airport.
From the year of 2005 to present; Incheon International airport was voted as the best airport worldwide by Airports Council International. Its duty-free stores have been rated the world’s top for the last three years consecutively rated by Business Traveller.
The secret of the airport’s success and good evaluation is probably due to the fact that the airport is very organized, clean and very proficiently managed and most of all, the International Airport is highly considerate of the passengers’ needs, offers many diverse experiences and services for them.
Find out for yourselves if the Incheon International Airport’s service deserves to have its title for the best ranking airport in the world.
— J. Chung
View Comments (7)
Such great info! Thanx.
Great, would love to visit.
Nice!
Nice!
This airport actually was taken by a friend of mine when she went abroad to teach in Korea. She had mentioned how smoothly things went and how easy it was to travel through. Not to mention how huge it is.
Love this airport. Would rate it ten out of ten.
!!!