Accumulated baggage at the Airport has surpassed 300 million items around eleven years after its opening in March 2001.

To celebrate reaching this milestone, a ceremony was held at the Airport’s passenger terminal to welcome the passenger carrying the 300 millionth item of baggage on June 20.

President and CEO of the Airport C.W.Lee, presented Mr. Kim Sung-ho who flew in from Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific flight 410 with a golden key, and Director of Cathay Pacific Airways Mr. Im Du-hyuk joined the celebration by presenting the passenger with a business class round trip ticket to Hong Kong.

The amount of baggage handled by the Airport began at around 12.4 million items when the Airport opened in 2001, but the volume has grown at an average of 7.8 percent every year since; hitting 100 million pieces of cumulative baggage in February 2006, 200 million by June 2009, and finally reaching the remarkable milestone of 300 million, three years later in 2012.

The accumulated weight of the 300 million pieces of baggage that the Airport has transported so far is over six million tons, which is about two times greater than the total weight of all Korean citizens, and if the baggage was to be laid in a line, the total length would be equal to 270 thousand kilometers or 330 times the distance between Seoul and Busan, or seven times the circumference of the earth.

Meanwhile, along with this measurable success, the Airport also grew remarkably well qualitatively.

The Airport’s Baggage Handling System (BHS) turned out to be as much as five times more precise than that of European and American airports. Commonly, the precision in baggage handling is estimated by counting the number of items of baggage that failed to be loaded per 100 thousand. According to the Baggage Report 2012 written by the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA), European airports had an average of twenty with American airports having an average of seven, while Incheon Airport had an even lower error rate of four, or 0.004 percent.

The quality service in baggage handling results from the Airport’s constant efforts to improve the operation and maintenance of the overall baggage handling system since the opening of the Airport, and is believed to have made a considerable contribution to help the Airport win the Airport Council International (ACI)’s top award for seven years in a row and be listed on the ‘Hall of Excellence’ as the Best Airport in the world for the first time in the airport industry.

President and CEO of the Airport C.W.Lee commented, “We have made dedicated efforts to minimize any possible inconvenience to passengers by creating fast, precise and safe baggage handling based on the most stable system maintenance capacity in the world.” He continued that “Our knowledge and experience in building, operating, and maintaining the world’s most precise Baggage Handling System will be the driving force behind the Airport’s business expansion overseas.”

Director of Cathay Pacific Airways Mr. Im Du-hyuk remarked that “One of the most often quoted customer complaints is related to lost baggage. At least at Incheon Airport, however, we are free from that complaint.”

Aside, a special event was prepared for all 260 passengers who flew in via Cathay Pacific 410 to present gifts customized for each gender and age group by UNICEF, delivered at the baggage claim belt, which was a nice surprise for passengers.