Lawmakers on the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee traveled to Incheon International Airport on Thursday for a site audit hours after internal logs showed three runway-incursion alerts in eight days, including one near-miss between a taxiing cargo jet and a passenger bus during the Chuseok return wave.
Controllers’ account
Airport officials told the panel that ground radar flagged a Korean Air cargo Boeing 747 crossing an active runway edge on Saturday night while a shuttle bus carrying transit passengers entered the same safety zone without clearance. Controllers issued an immediate hold-short order; neither vehicle entered the other's path, but the incident triggered a mandatory report to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Committee staff released redacted timelines showing two additional low-speed incursions involving regional jets waiting for de-icing slots. None produced injuries or damage, yet auditors said the cluster broke a 14-month streak without a Category A ground safety event at Korea’s busiest hub.
Infrastructure and staffing
Incheon International Airport Corp. executives attributed part of the strain to simultaneous construction on a third parallel taxiway intended to cut queue times for wide-body departures. Night-shift ground controllers said overtime caps introduced after a 2025 fatigue study left fewer certified supervisors on duty between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., when cargo and low-cost-carrier banks overlap.
The audit also reviewed accessibility upgrades promised after disability advocates criticized bus gate transfers in Terminal 2. Committee chair Rep. Park Jin-ho said lawmakers would inspect bus-driver training records and the airport’s multilingual signage before clearing the 2027 capacity expansion budget.
Technology fixes on the table
Airport technology chiefs outlined a pilot of automated vehicle location beacons on shuttle buses, similar to systems deployed at Singapore Changi. Funding would come from the airport’s capital plan rather than central grants. Until hardware arrives, controllers requested temporary restrictions on mixed bus-and-aircraft movements near Runway 33L during peak banks.
Passengers are unlikely to see flight cancellations from Thursday’s hearing itself, but the committee warned that failure to implement corrective steps before the winter charter season could delay approval for additional long-haul slots sought by Korean carriers.