Incheon International Airport has reached a cumulative baggage handling volume of 800 million pieces, a milestone achieved 23 years and 3 months after its opening in 2001.
Incheon International Airport Corporation held a commemorative ceremony for achieving a cumulative total of 800 million pieces of baggage on July 9. The cumulative baggage handling volume at Incheon Airport recorded a high growth rate of 9% annually from the time it reached 100 million pieces in February 2006 until 2019.
Despite the decrease in the rate of baggage increase due to the drop in air travel demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport resumed normal operations. Thanks to the recovery trend in air travel demand, the airport reached the 800 million mark on July 2, just 2 years and 6 months after reaching 700 million in December 2021.
The total weight of the 800 million pieces of baggage is about 12 million tons. If lined up, the total length would be 447,387 miles, which is approximately 18 times the circumference of the earth (24,901 miles).
Currently, Incheon Airport handles an average of 168,000 pieces of baggage per day, recovering to 98% of the pre-COVID-19 level in 2019 (171,000 pieces). With the increasing number of passengers, it is expected that the airport will soon break its previous record. The highest daily record was 207,000 pieces on January 20, 2019, and the highest annual record was 62.69 million pieces set in 2019.
Incheon Airport’s baggage handling system has a total length of 87.61 miles and covers an area of 93 acres, equivalent to 53 soccer fields. Once the expansion project of the airport’s Terminal 2 is completed at the end of this year, an additional 26.72 miles of conveyor belts and related facilities will be added, securing a world-class baggage handling infrastructure of 114.33 miles in total length.
Lee Hak Jae, the president of the corporation, stated, “We will pursue a digital transformation based on advanced technologies such as big data, digital twins, robots, and AI to further strengthen the future competitiveness of our baggage infrastructure.”