Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) expects a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2024.

The airport operator is seeing significant developments for the Phase 4 project at Incheon International Airport, while striving to become a base for cargo plane remodelling. Overseas, it has a strong chance of being selected as strategic partner for Poland’s CPK airport project while the design for Terminal 2 of Hang Nadim International Airport has entered the Detailed Engineering Design (DED) phase.

According to IIAC, the number of passengers at Incheon International Airport in the third quarter of this year based on international routes was 15,419,010, showing a recovery rate of 86.0% compared to the third quarter of 2019 (17,924,471 passengers) before COVID-19.

Remarkably, this is a 180.8% increase compared to the third quarter of last year (5,491,286 passengers), and on August 12th, during the summer peak season during this period, the number of passengers per day was 193,917, the highest since COVID-19.

IIAC’s recovery has been expected from the early part of the year.

In April 2023,  IIAC CEO Kyung-wook Kim predicted that the quarterly operating profit for the first three months of 2023 would turn into surplus for the first time since 2020, when the COVID-19 incident had occurred.

The reason behind the IIAC's faster-than-expected turnaround is not only due to the rapid recovery of passenger traffic thanks to the easing of regulations by the quarantine authorities and the resumption of visa-free tourism, but IIAC’s efforts to reduce costs, therefore maintaining a stable financial position.