Incheon airport recovers to pre-pandemic levels in passengers, carg

Incheon International Airport expects to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels in terms of cargo and air passengers by the end of the year, Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC), the operator of the country’s largest international air transport hub, said Wednesday. “Due to the complete end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport expects to see the number of air passengers this year drastically increase by 26.9% compared to last year,” Lee Sang-yong, senior public relations manager at IIAC, said during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Incheon. By the end of 2024, IIAC expects around 71.2m air passengers will have passed through the airport this year, which is a 26.9% jump from last year. The 2019 figure was 71.1m. The increase is due to soaring air travel demand during the summer and Chuseok holiday seasons, mainly from and to neighboring Japan. In 2025, the airport expects to receive some 73m travelers. Amid the global recovery in travel and tourism, the airport also expects a full-scale recovery in cargo transport at 2.9m tons this year.<br/>