This is the Ulleung Airport construction site. In front of Sadong Port on the south side of Ulleungdo, earth cut from Gadu Peak is being used to reclaim the sea and build the runway 20 meters high.
Kim Hyeon-gi, head of the Ulleung Airport construction project management team, said this to a reporter who visited the site on the 6th. The 198-meter-above-sea-level Gadu Peak had been cut away by nearly half. Dump trucks were hauling soil from Gadu Peak to reclaim the sea.
Ulleung Airport is the first island airport in Korea. Aiming for completion at the end of 2027, the project has surpassed 70% progress. Once Ulleung Airport opens, it will take about an hour to reach Ulleungdo from Seoul. Small aircraft will be able to take off and land, bringing tourists to Ulleungdo. If there is an emergency patient, they can be airlifted urgently to a large hospital on the mainland. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) projects annual demand at Ulleung Airport at 1.08 million passengers in 2050.
Ulleung Airport is being built using a marine reclamation method. The airport site is supported by 30 concrete structures (caissons). At 28 meters high and weighing 16,400 tons, they are the largest in the country. Applying port structures to an airport site is said to be rare worldwide.
The Ulleung Airport runway is designed to be 1,200 meters long and 30 meters wide. Because there is no flat land to place a runway on Ulleungdo, it is being built by reclaiming the sea with soil obtained by cutting into the mountain.
The Ulleung Airport runway poses no problem for operating ATR-72 aircraft, which are specialized for small island airports, but there have been persistent concerns that landing restrictions could increase in bad weather. The Board of Audit and Inspection in September noted the need to improve safety, saying the braking distance could increase in rainy weather. Residents say the runway should be extended to at least 1,500 meters. Nam Han-gwon, the Ulleung County head, said, "Since the Muan Airport accident, residents have felt great anxiety about runway safety," adding, "Even if the width stays the same, the length should be increased."
However, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is negative about extending the runway. If the runway is lengthened by 300 meters, additional reclamation would be needed in waters 60 to 70 meters deep, the project cost would swell to about 1 trillion won, and the construction period would be extended by more than three years. An official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said, "There is no safety issue even under the current design standards." The official added, "Under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, we cannot extend only the runway length; the width would also have to be expanded to 280 meters."
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) says additional measures to strengthen safety are underway. It has decided to install an engineered materials arresting system (EMAS) 40 meters long and 38 meters wide at both ends of the runway. The device is intended to prevent accidents in which an aircraft skids off the runway. A design change is in progress with completion targeted for the year after next.
To further enhance navigation safety, installation of an instrument landing system (ILS) and approach lighting facilities is also being promoted. Ulleung Airport was originally designed as a visual flight rules airport where pilots take off and land by visually confirming the terrain, but adopting an instrument flight rules method, in which takeoffs and landings reference aircraft instruments in bad weather, is being reviewed.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) expects that once these facilities are in place, the cancellation rate will drop from 26% under visual flight rules to around 6.8%. That is only one-third of the Ulleung Port passenger ship's average annual cancellation rate (22.1%).
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a total of 879.2 billion won will be invested in Ulleung Airport, which broke ground in 2020. The project aims to reach 85% progress by the end of next year and finish all work by the end of 2027.