Korean Air will build an aircraft maintenance facility in the Incheon Airport Advanced Complex Aviation District with a goal of beginning operations in 2029. The facility will be large enough to service two large aircraft at the same time, and other airlines are also expected to use it.
Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) said on the 24th that it signed an implementation agreement titled "Investment attraction for a new aircraft maintenance facility in the Incheon Airport Advanced Complex Aviation District," centered on the above details, with Korean Air at the Grand Hyatt Incheon in Jung District, Incheon.
Under the agreement, Korean Air will build a hangar for aircraft maintenance on a site of about 70,000 square meters within the Incheon Airport Advanced Complex Aviation District, with the goal of starting operations in the fourth quarter of 2029. The project size is 176 billion won.
With the goal of creating a "world-class one-stop maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service cluster," Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) is developing the Advanced Complex Aviation District and attracting investment from related corporations. Korean Air's investment decision is the third, following the 2023 cargo aircraft conversion facility by Israel's IAI and last year's investment attraction for a low-cost carrier (LCC) maintenance facility by T'way Air.
The hangar facility that Korean Air will build will be large enough to simultaneously service two wide-body (WB) aircraft and one narrow-body (NB) aircraft. A wide-body is a large aircraft with two or more aisles in the cabin, and a narrow-body is a small aircraft with one aisle.
When the new hangar facility goes into operation, the corporation plans to promote various programs related to the national aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry, such as facility tours and hands-on experiences for the general public.
Lee Hak-jae, president of Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), said, "We will push to leap into a 'global top 5 MRO complex' within 10 years," adding, "We will also contribute to the development of the domestic aviation industry and the revitalization of the national economy by shifting aircraft maintenance demand to the domestic market."