Gimhae New Airport Virtually Scrapped... Verification Committee Calls for "Fundamental Review" (Comprehensive)

Announcement of Verification Results by the Gimhae New Airport Verification Committee

Gimhae Airport Expansion Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The Verification Committee for Gimhae New Airport under the Prime Minister's Office announced on the 17th that "the promotion of Gimhae New Airport requires fundamental reconsideration." This means the 'cancellation' of the Gimhae New Airport plan.

At a press conference on the verification results of the 'Gimhae New Airport Basic Plan' held at the Government Seoul Office in the afternoon, the committee stated, "The basic plan for Gimhae New Airport requires significant supplementation in areas such as safety, facility operation and demand, environment, and noise, and it is difficult to respond to future changes such as expansion."

The committee pointed out that regarding safety, facility operation and demand, environment, and noise, "During the verification process, issues that were not sufficiently reviewed at the time of project confirmation were identified, such as the need to supplement flight procedures, the necessity of early installation of the western taxiway, limitations on expansion to prepare for future demand changes, and the expansion of noise range."

They further judged, "Due to the nature of an international airport, the basic plan has limitations in terms of capacity to respond to various future environmental changes, making it very tight."

The committee also criticized, "According to the interpretation by the Ministry of Government Legislation, obstacles exceeding the height of the approach surfaces such as Gyeungunsan, Obongsan, and Imhosan should be subject to cutting during plan establishment, but this was not considered, resulting in an error that ultimately violates the intent of the law."

They added, "When assuming mountain cutting, a fundamental review is necessary regarding the project schedule, whether the obstructing mountain obstacles can be physically and environmentally cut, and whether the allowable cost range is exceeded."

The committee concluded, "The Gimhae New Airport plan requires significant supplementation and is difficult to respond to future changes such as expansion. Furthermore, considering the interpretation that project promotion requires the removal of mountains exceeding the obstacle limitation surface height unless the consent of local governments is confirmed, the promotion of Gimhae New Airport as the gateway airport of the southeastern region requires fundamental reconsideration."

The committee was officially launched on December 6 of the same year after Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam local governments and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport requested verification of the appropriateness of Gimhae New Airport as the 'gateway airport of the southeastern region' to the Prime Minister's Office in June last year and agreed to abide by the results.

Accordingly, the committee divided the issues raised by Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam into four areas: safety, noise, facility operation and demand, and environment, and conducted verification work on 11 issues and 22 detailed items.

In this process, they made every effort for objective and scientific verification by conducting field investigations, listening to expert opinions, and requesting authoritative interpretations from related organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Ministry of Government Legislation for some issues.

The committee requested, "While some may feel disappointed with the verification results, we hope that the government, Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam, and the public will respect the results reached after intense discussions and reviews since December last year as much as possible."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.