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Incheon immigration queues hit 80 minutes as foreign arrivals surge
South Korea logged 2.04 million foreign arrivals in June, up from 1.74 million a year earlier, pushing queues at Incheon International Airport’s Terminal 1 past 10 lanes.
Foreign travellers arriving in South Korea via Incheon International Airport faced lengthy immigration waits after queues spilled beyond the airport’s 10 marked lanes at Terminal 1, with disruption concentrated near the entrance as new arrivals piled into a crowded waiting area, according to SCMP Economy citing local reporting.
Passengers who reached immigration counters around noon were not processed until after 1.20pm, creating an 80 minute delay, the outlet reported. That compares with the International Civil Aviation Organization guidance to keep immigration waiting times within 45 minutes.
SCMP Economy said the congestion was driven by surging inbound travel. The number of foreign arrivals reached 2.04 million in June, up from 1.74 million in the same month last year, based on data released by the Korea Immigration Service.
For the first half of the year, the total number of foreign arrivals rose 20.6 percent to 11.05 million from 9.15 million in the same period last year, the report added. The outlet also noted the delay was similar to a Lunar New Year disruption earlier this year that was described as an immigration crisis.