"Global Aviation Companies Exempt from Customs Duties When Settling in Incheon Airport Advanced Complex"

Incheon Airport Advanced Complex Aviation Cluster Newly Designated as Free Trade Zone

An advanced integrated aviation complex within Incheon Airport has been newly designated as a free trade zone. The purpose is to actively attract major global companies related to aircraft maintenance, repair, disassembly, and assembly.

Incheon International Airport Corporation announced on the 25th that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy approved the advanced integrated aviation complex, an aircraft MRO maintenance complex within Incheon Airport, as a new free trade zone. Aircraft MRO refers to essential aircraft industries such as maintenance, repair, and disassembly/assembly. With this designation, the total area of the Incheon Airport free trade zone has expanded to 3,970,899 square meters.

Accordingly, customs duties on aircraft maintenance-related parts will be exempted, enabling the activation of new investments. According to Article 89 of the Customs Act, customs duties on aircraft parts were originally 100% exempted. However, due to a sunset clause, the scope of customs exemption was to be reduced from 2025 and customs duties would be fully imposed from 2029.

In particular, a foundation has been laid to change and expand the nature of the free trade zone. The existing free trade zone at Incheon Airport was a cargo terminal and logistics complex, but now it can attract aircraft MRO industry companies. Companies investing in the advanced integrated aviation complex will receive customs and value-added tax exemption benefits. As a result, it is analyzed that the free trade zone within the airport can evolve from focusing on cargo handling and storage to becoming a hub for transshipment, processing, manufacturing, and logistics convergence.

The first tenant company has already been secured. Incheon International Airport Corporation signed an implementation agreement last April with a joint venture between the Israeli state-owned company IAI and the domestic company Sharp Technics K for the "B777-300ER passenger aircraft cargo conversion project." Construction of the hangar and other related works are currently underway, aiming to start operations in 2025. The strategy is to additionally attract global aviation industry companies such as Rolls-Royce and Boeing in the future.

Lee Hak-jae, President of Incheon International Airport Corporation, said, "Based on this new designation of the free trade zone, we plan to revitalize the advanced integrated aviation complex by expanding investment attraction from world-leading anchor companies in the aircraft MRO sector. Based on new investment attraction, we will develop a specialized aircraft maintenance complex model tailored to Incheon Airport, revitalize the regional industrial ecosystem, and further strengthen Incheon Airport's global competitiveness."

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