[Incheon Airport News] The Incheon Airport Joint Committee to Prevent Hasty Integration has been formed and issued a statement opposing the integration plan. This joint committee, consisting of labor unions within Incheon Airport, criticized the government’s plan to integrate airport operators, including Incheon International Airport Corporation, Korea Airports Corporation, and Gaduk New Airport Construction Corporation, as a part of public enterprise restructuring ordered by President Lee Jae-myung.
The committee accused the government of irresponsibly shifting the blame for failed local airport policies and the financial burden of new airport construction onto Incheon Airport. In their statement on the 16th, they stated, “The chronic deficits and insufficient demand in local airports are not problems that arose overnight but are the result of the government’s repeated policy failures due to politically driven over-construction of airports without regard to demand and feasibility.”
Criticizing the ongoing construction of the Gaduk New Airport as a continuation of policy failures while trying to cover its burden through the integration with Incheon Airport, the committee argued that if Incheon Airport also has to bear the deficits of local airports and the financial burden of the new airport, its capacity for crucial investments to increase competitiveness as a hub airport would severely deteriorate, ultimately affecting the public badly.
The committee emphasized that airports are essential national public services directly related to the safety, mobility, and convenience of citizens. They argued that stability in airport services should take precedence over a merger that merely aims to meet numerical targets. They called for the immediate withdrawal of plans to integrate airport operators, urging the government to responsibly prepare financial measures and correct mistaken aviation policies to address local airport issues.