After an audit found that parking at Incheon International Airport was excessively taken up by "employee season passes," worsening parking difficulties for travelers, Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) apologized.
On the 15th, the corporation issued a statement saying it "fully accepts responsibility for causing public inconvenience due to lax management of the season pass," and added, "We will go back to square one to reexamine our overall deficient work system and use this as an opportunity to overhaul the season-pass management system."
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said the previous day that employees of Incheon Airport, Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), and its subsidiaries and affiliates were found to have issued and used 31,265 season parking passes, equal to 84.5% of the airport's total parking capacity. However, the average daily use of season passes was only 5,134 cases (13.8%).
Last year, the corporation and subsidiary employees used free season parking passes to waive 4.1 billion won in short-term parking fees at Terminals 1 and 2. That equals 11% of the corporation's annual short-term parking revenue (36.6 billion won).
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) pointed out, "The corporation indiscriminately issued season parking passes without setting an appropriate issuance cap and with no management of usage conditions," adding, "This conduct was one of the key reasons that exacerbated congestion in Incheon Airport's parking lots."
There were also indications they diverted free season parking passes for personal use, such as during overseas vacations in peak season. Last year alone, there were 1,220 instances (1,017 employees) of employees using free season passes during personal leave, and the total parking fees they were exempted from amounted to 79 million won.
In addition, the corporation expressed its intent to review and improve issues raised in MOLIT's February audit that valet parking service upgrades were being pushed through hastily.