By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
Incheon International Airport aims to beef up its size as an East Asian hub in airline transportation this year by adding more carriers to its operation routes.
U.S.-based Delta Air Lines and Qatar Airline will newly launch the operation of direct routes to Incheon this year, Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) said Wednesday.
"It's our No. 1 priority this year to further elaborate on the web of our routes across the world to strengthen the airport's global competitiveness. Enhancing marketing efforts will be another huge mission," an IIAC spokesman said.
Delta, which became the largest U.S. carrier after a recent acquisition of Northwest Airlines, will have five weekly flights to link Incheon and major American cities. The plan was finalized in negotiations between the two companies early last month, a representative for Incheon Airport said.
Flights from here to Doha, Qatar will not need to pass through Tokyo either. Incheon Airport also seeks to attract routes from Australia's Qantas, Malaysia's AirAsia, Air India of India and American Air of the United States, as well as Easter Jet, a Seoul-based low-budget airline.
A total of 62 airline companies, including four local Korean ones, operate routes that connect Incheon to 117 destinations worldwide.
China remains the biggest customer for the airport, with 12 carriers, including Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, having Incheon routes in service. The United States operates seven companies, ahead of Japan and Russia with four each.
With the expansion of overall flights, the IIAC expects the number of transit passengers via the airport to grow to over 6 million, from 5.2 million last year.
Incheon Airport's transfer rate of passengers, the ratio of transferring passengers to the overall arriving passengers to the airport, were tallied at 18.5 percent, ahead of rival airports in the region. Two key Japanese airports, Narita and Kansai Airports, posted 18.2 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively, while China's Shanghai Pudong International Airport recorded 15.4 percent.
The result shows Incheon Airport's marketing efforts last year were successful in attracting travelers from China and Japan to fly via Incheon to Western destinations at lower prices, the IIAC said.
Transits via Incheon are likely to further increase thanks to its advantage on a variety of routes and lower costs, the company expects. "The transfer rate could rise to nearly 20 percent this year, as a series of huge events are supposed to be held in China such as the 2010 Shanghai EXPO and the Guangzhou Asian Games," the IIAC spokesman said.
Promotional activities of the IIAC will be intensified, as it plans to take part in the Route Asia 2010, an airline route development forum in the Asia-Pacific region to be held in Adelaide, Australia in April. The company will also visit provincial parts of Japan and China later this year to promote the airport's strategy to build a new regional hub.