A Top Aviation Nation

Korea is building a global aviation network with agreements signed by 90 countries connecting 151 cities

Deputy Minister for Civil Aviation Kim Kwang-jae of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, in his recent exclusive interview with NewsWorld, said Korea signed aviation agreements with 90 countries and 66 foreign airlines that make stops in Korea, connecting 151 cities with Korea’s two airlines, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. Korea has been building a global aviation network that connects the entire world and work is now underway to expand its air routes to Africa and Central and South America so more resources and people can move in and out of Korea. Following are excerpts of what he had to say in the interview:
Question: What are the current domestic and international aviation routes served by domestic airlines and plans to strengthen them in the future?
Answer: Korea has grown to rank the eighth largest aviation country in the world. Currently, Korea signed civil aviation agreements with 90 countries and, based on those agreements, we have been able to build an international aviation network that connects the entire world. Foreign airlines, totaling 66, along with our two domestic airlines serve 151 cities around the world on 280 air routes.
Currently, North America, Europe and Southeast Asia, among others, where air flights out of Korea have been concentrated, will be extended to other parts of the world including Central and South America, Africa and others regions where growth potential is high in a move to expand our global air network so that more people and resources can move in and out of Korea.
In July, we signed aviation agreements with Ethiopia and the Seychelles, and in June we agreed with Brazil to liberalize air flights between the two countries in a bid to expand our air flight network to include Africa and Central and South America. At the same time, we plan to strengthen the competitiveness of our airlines and boost conveniences for our people by promoting air flight liberalization agreements with an increased number of countries strategically and on a gradual basis.
We aim to conclude such agreements with China, southeast Asian countries and the EU, in particular, where demand for air flights is large. We can provide convenience and boost the competitiveness of our airlines on a selective basis. Currently, we signed free aviation agreements on both passengers and cargo flights with some 20 countries including the United States, Canada, Japan and Thailand and on cargo-only flights with 33 countries.
Q: What’s the significance of Aviation Day? Please introduce us to the various events on the day.
A: This year’s Aviation Day was the 30th annual event since its designation by the government in October 1981, coinciding with the first air flight launched between Seoul and Busan on Oct. 30, 1948. Korea has become the eighth power aviation nation thanks to continuous government efforts, along with the civilian aviation sector’s development, as a top aviation safety country according to the evaluation made by the ICAO, and the Incheon International Airport taking over the top position in terms of airport service in the world.
This year’s Aviation Day was observed with various events at both the Sejong Center and the Korea Aerospace University to look back on the progress made in the aviation sector and prospects for its future development. The events unfurled to make the day more memorable included the model airplane competition for the Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Award and the One-Mind Aviation Festival, among other fun events, along with a seminar on aviation safety. Next year, more meaningful events will be provided to make the day a festival for aviation people.
Q: Can you tell us about the security measures taken in the aviation sector to make the G20 Seoul Summit a great success?
A: The airports are the gates to welcome all the heads of state coming to Korea for the G20 Summit in Seoul, where they get their first impression of Korea, the host country of the great global event. Since March various aviation safety measures have been implemented to make the G20 Summit a resounding success.
First of all, a pan-governmental security team was set up at the airports where the heads of state and their entourages were to arrive, consisting of government agencies and businesses with offices at the airport.
For the convenience of the landings and departures of the airplanes bringing and returning those heads of state and their entourages, we designated parking areas and the areas for waiting for events at the airport. We also expanded the number of staff at the control tower to secure smooth and safe aviation traffic flows for the airplanes carrying heads of the state as well as other measures necessary to ensure their safety.
Not only that, we also prepared a special protocol room for heads of state and for their entourages to ensure speedy handling of their entry and exit procedures.
Since April, we have been holding a monthly check-up on the airport control tower system and other facilities and on the measures to prevent terrorist attacks using light planes to make sure that airport security remains as tight as scheduled.
We have also been taking measures to see that new full-body security check machines are working properly at the four major airports to prevent new aviation terror attacks and for the safety of G20 Seoul Summit. We conducted test-runs of those machines from Sept. 1 and launched their operations on Oct. 1. We also added eight security machines to check for liquid explosives at the Incheon International Airport. The full-body security check machines are able to see things that the existing security check machines were unable to find and have been deployed recently by eight advanced countries including the United States at their key airports. These new security check machines can find such things as ceramic knives, weapons, powders and liquid explosives, among others.
We will make sure that the G20 Summit is safe and successful and, in the process, make Korea known throughout the world as a top aviation security country. We have been able to cut the entry procedure to 13 minutes from the time of arrival, and the departure process to 18 minutes from the time of arrival at the airport, although the ICAO recommended time for entry procedure is 30 minutes and departure procedure 42 minutes.
Q: What about the international position of the Incheon International Airport and measures to strengthen its competitiveness against rival airports in Japan and China?
A: The Incheon International Airport, since its opening in 2001, has grown to be a top airport in the world thanks to government efforts to make the airport a logistics hub of Northeast Asia. In the nine years since its opening, the airport ranked second in terms of air cargo transportation and 12th in terms of passenger numbers. The airport has been the top airport in terms of service for five consecutive years in the evaluation conducted by the International Airport Council. It was proven by the fact that some 4,500 people from the airport authorities and overseas airports visited the Incheon International Airport to learn how it was built and operated since its opening in 2001.
Airports in both Japan and China are busy trying to catch up with Incheon Airport by expanding runways and implementing new management policies. Japan has been working hard to upgrade the function of Haneda Airport in the area of international operations under an agreement with the United States on free aviation operation, focusing on making Haneda a hub airport in Northeast Asia. Haneda opened its new terminal for international lines on Oct. 25.
China plans to build 97 new airports and expand the old ones by 2020 to cope with increasing demand for air travel in line with its economic take-off.
We expect the competition between Japan and China to make their airports hub airports in Northeast Asia is likely to intensify and we have to strengthen the hub function of Incheon Airport. We have to expand airport facilities, as they will reach a saturation point in 2015 in order to be ready to handle 44 million passengers and 4.5 million tons of cargo annually. We also plan to expand our airport network to expand passenger and cargo transfers at Incheon airport and revitalize the international business complex and background areas to increase logistics operations.
Q: What is the current status of regional airport operations and strategies to revitalize them?
A: Regional airports have been losing customers to KTX and highway buses due to their development as convenient means of transportation. About 14 regional airports have been operating in the black so far ― airports such as Gimpo, Gimhae and Jeju, all 11 have been incurring losses.
The airports losing money have been getting subsidies from profits made by other regional airports, and policies are in place to increase the number of air passengers at those airports. The subsidies paid to the airports losing money amounted to 64.2 billion won in 2006, 92.2 billion won in 2007, 95.7 billion won in 2008 and 116.7 billion won last year.
The government has been pushing its plan to sell the management rights of the money-losing airports to private concerns to spur competition. It will also set up management strategies tailor-made for each of those airports to turn around their operations.
To put those airports’ operations back on the right track, the government should help launch low-cost carriers and air-taxi operations by regional airlines to increase demand for airline services. The government has been strengthening its support to those regional air carriers by allowing them to fly short and medium-range routes overseas, along with the exemption of landing and take-off fees and other incentives at the airports.
The government has also been taking measures to cut the number of employees and to upgrade the management effects in a bid to reduce operation costs at those money-losing airports.
Q: What is the operation status of the low-cost air carriers and their development strategies?
A: There currently are five low-cost air carriers in operation including Jeju Air, Jin Air, Air Busan and Easta Airline. Those air carriers have been flying 454 flights per week on five domestic air routes, including Gimpo-Jeju, and 64 flights per week on nine international routes including Incheon-Bangkok. In 2005, some 20,000 people flew on low-cost air carriers, in 2009, that number rose to 4.94 million, and as of Sept. 30, the passenger numbers jumped to 5.16 million and is expected to exceed 6.7 million by the end of this year. This accounts for a 34 percent share of total air passengers in Korea, up from 27.4 percent in 2009 and 6.5 percent in 2007. The low-cost air carriers carried 160,000 passengers on international flights last year and the figure is likely to increase to 800,000 by the end of this year, as some 630,000 people already used those carriers as of Sept. 30, accounting for 0.75 percent of international passengers.
The government has also been working on establishing an aviation training center that can cater to all low-cost carriers for their development and an aircraft repair center that can also be jointly used by those carriers as part of the government effort to nurture them. The government also set up the safety measures as a base for the development of those carriers in April to upgrade their safe operation.
Q: What is the current status of air logistics and strategies to expand it?
A: Our domestic airlines have been tops in terms of air cargo transportation and the cargo handling capacity of Incheon International Airport. International air cargo has been rising an average of 4.4 percent annually for the past 10 years thanks to economic expansion and outstanding export volumes of such key products as IT, cars and other strategic products. The volume of air cargo rose to 2.87 million tons in 2009 from 1.95 million tons in 2000. Korean Air has been the top carrier of air cargo since 2004 and Asiana Airline the 14th. Incheon Airport ranked second in terms of international air cargo handling, taking care of 2.27 million tons in 2009, and a cargo transfer rate of 47.2 percent, the highest in Asia.
In order to boost the competitive power of domestic airlines and Incheon Airport, the government plans to increase the number of agreements on free cargo transport signed with 33 countries. The government, at the same time, plans to expand the cargo-handling complex at Incheon Airport by 922,000 square meters and increase cargoes by attracting global companies. nw

Deputy Minister for Civil Aviation Kim Kwang-jae of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.