New cargo airlines are flocking to Incheon International Airport

JOC Staff |
Incheon, Korea, May 17, 2010 -Incheon International Airport Corporation (President; Lee Chae-Wook) announced that new cargo airlines such as Air Bridge Cargo, Qantas Air, Air Bridge Cargo and Aerologic would begin the operation of freighters to and from Incheon International Airport during the second quarter of this year in addition to the air freight company with Finland nationality Finn Air Cargo which began the operation of two cargo flights a week on the Incheon-Helsinki route from May 13.

All of the cargo airlines that are starting new service to Incheon International Airport this time are operating on American and European routes. With the increases of flights this time, the number of cargo airlines flying to Incheon International Airport will be increased from 24 to 28 and the number of weekly freighter flights will be increased by 12 from 338 in the past to become 350 and thus Incheon International Airport has become to be reborn as a stronghold for freighter operations with 50 daily flights.

These air freight companies will handle not only cargoes to be exported from Korea but also those coming from surrounding countries such as China and Japan to be transshipped at Incheon International Airport and as a result, it is considered that the function of Incheon International Airport as a hub of physical distribution in the Northeast Asian region will be accelerated further.

Indeed, the accumulated quantity of inbound/outbound cargoes of Incheon International Airport by the last April was recorded as 870 thousand tons showing an increase by 28.4% compared to the same period in the last year thereby showing the greatest growth since the opening of Incheon International Airport in 2001. In particular, Incheon International Airport has experienced a hotter spring than any other years in last April recording a growth by 26.2% compared to the last year despite that April is a traditional off-season of air cargoes and air transportations to/from Europe were completely suspended for 5 days due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

In this regard, Young-Pyo Yoon, the vice president of Incheon International Airport Corporation said, In order to preoccupy the position as a Air Cargo hub in this economic recovery period, we will introduce plans to attract air freight companies and reinforce marketing activities toward domestic/foreign air cargo businesses. Given this situation, it is expected that, in 2010, the cargo terminal of Incheon International Airport will experience an intensive and busy year while competing with nearby airports over the supremacy as a hub of air cargoes from/to Korea-China-Japan.


? Reference 1) Details of airlines that are newly flying to Incheon International Airport or will increase flights
Airlines Nationality Route Number of increased weekly flights Aircraft
Type Time to increase flights
Air Bridge Cargo Russia Incheon-Moscow-Frankfurt 1 B747-400F April 25
Finn Air
Cargo Finland Incheon-Helsinki 2 MD-11F May 13
Cargolux Luxemburg Incheon-Luxemburg 1(3)1) B747-400F May 13
Qantas Air Freight Australia Sydney-Incheon-
Chicago 2 B747-400F June 7
Aerologic Germany Incheon-Leipzig 6 B777F In July
Total 12 flights
1) Increased to three flights in total by increasing one flight from two flights in the past


? Reference 2) Records of cargoes handled in Incheon International Airport during January through April 2010


(Ton)
Inbound Outbound Total Daily average previous year(2009) Compared to the previous year
Jan. 92,122 110,123 202,245 6,524 146,699 37.9%
Feb. 89,592 107,182 196,774 7,028 158,138 24.4%
Mar. 110,029 131,906 241,935 7,804 191,388 26.4%
Apr. 103,203 126,338 229,542 7,651 181,944 26.2%
Total 394,946 475,549 870,496 7,254 678,170 28.4%