The union of Incheon Airport Security Co., a subsidiary of Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) that performs security screening and other duties at Incheon Airport, has decided not to extend the labor-management agreement that included staff dispatch and support for Terminal 2 (T2). As a result, congestion at T2 is expected to rise sharply due to a shortage of security personnel, increasing inconvenience for passengers.
According to the aviation industry on the 2nd, the Incheon Airport Security Co. union recently notified management that it would not extend the labor-management agreement that had remained in place through the end of last month. Accordingly, dispatch and support shifts to T2 will also be halted, cutting staffing during peak congestion hours (5 a.m. to 8 a.m.) by about 60 from previous levels.
The labor-management agreement was concluded earlier this year to prepare for rising airport congestion after Asiana Airlines moved its operating terminal to T2. Incheon Airport Security Co. had been reinforcing staffing during peak congestion hours by dispatching workers from Terminal 1 (T1) to T2 and drawing support from off-duty personnel within T2. The agreement, initially set to run through the Lunar New Year holiday, was extended multiple times and remained in effect through the end of last month.
According to Incheon Airport Security Co., T1 has 1,156 workers and T2 has 887. They work in seven teams on four shifts, assigned by zones such as carry-on, checked baggage, and transfers. During peak congestion hours, staffing is about 350 at T1 and 380 at T2. However, with additional dispatches halted starting today, T2 staffing has fallen to around 320.
The union refused to extend the agreement because it said the company has shown no will to resolve the staffing shortages it raised when the deal was struck. The union argues that, due to staffing shortages and other issues, the work patterns of X-ray image screeners at security checkpoints fail to meet even domestic and international standards.
Under the National Aviation Security Program and the procedures for performing security screening at Incheon Airport, an X-ray screener must not conduct screening work continuously for more than 45 minutes. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) applies the same standard, requiring 15 minutes of non-screening duties after 45 minutes of continuous screening.
However, the union says the standard is not being met, with a single screener working more than three consecutive hours due to staff shortages. Regarding the recent discovery of a box cutter in an outbound passenger's baggage at Incheon Airport, the union also said inadequate screening caused by staffing shortages was the reason, and it has asked the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to conduct a fact-finding inspection.
With the extension of the labor-management agreement falling through, airport congestion is expected to worsen. Even during the period when dispatch and support shifts were in place, T2 was unable to operate about 30% of its 34 screening lanes. On the 1st alone, only about 19 lanes were operating during peak congestion hours. As a result, despite it being a weekday with relatively few departures, long lines for departure processing reportedly continued past 9 a.m., and congestion persisted.
There are concerns that if the labor-management agreement is not extended, a "departure meltdown" could materialize on weekends, when airport traffic surges, and during the upcoming Chuseok holiday. For example, during the weekend that included last year's Chuseok holiday, Oct. 3-5, Incheon Airport handled 651,022 passengers, up by more than 20,000 from the previous weekend.
An official at Incheon Airport Security Co. said, "On the weekend before the Chuseok holiday, processing times could take more than twice as long as usual," and added, "Security issues are occurring because we cannot comply with the standard for continuous screening duty, so structural improvements are needed."
Meanwhile, passenger traffic at Incheon Airport reached a record high of 74,071,475 last year. That was up 4.1% from a year earlier and 4.1% higher than the 71,169,722 recorded in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.