By Cho Hyun-jeong
Intern
Hitosi Dakai, 50, of Japan, received an 18.75-gram gold "key of luck" and a round trip ticket from Seoul to Japan as a special gift when he arrived at Incheon International Airport as its 200 millionth traveler Monday afternoon. He flew to the airport on the Korean Air Flight KE776 from Komatsu, in the western Japanese Prefecture of Ishikawa, at 2:05 p.m.
A spokesman from Incheon International Airport Corp., the operator of the airport, however, said that the choice was symbolic in celebrating the event, as the total number of tourists to and from the airport has already hit the mark.
Lee Chae-wook, president and chief executive officer of the state-run airport operator, awarded the key to Dakai as a token of appreciation for his use of the airport and Lee Jin-gul, chief of the passenger branch office of Korean Air at the port, presented a return trip ticket to him, with about 100 airport officials and chiefs of airline branches watching at the passenger terminal.
Passenger traffic at the airport has doubled in three years and three months since it hit the 100 million mark in December 2005. The airport saw 14.5 million in its opening year, 2001.
The airport has also recorded an average growth of 8.6 percent in trade cargo traffic, reaching 2.55 million tons in 2007, from 1.7 million tons in the initial year, making it the second largest trade cargo handler in the world.
The nation's largest international airport occupied 72.3 percent of the total number of passengers to and from Korea and 21.6 percent of the total trade cargo value of the country last year, making it the nation's export forefront and the gateway to Korea.