Audit Finds 85% of Parking Spaces Are Season Passes... Incheon Airport Apologizes, Vows Complete Management Overhaul

Audit by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Incheon Airport Parking Operations
Parking Passes Provided to Employees of Corporation and Subsidiaries
Short-Term Parking Fees Waived at Terminals 1 and 2 Totaled 4.1 Billion Won

Incheon International Airport Corporation and its subsidiaries have been found to have granted parking privileges to employees despite the airport's severe parking shortage. In response, Incheon International Airport Corporation acknowledged its lack of oversight and announced plans to conduct a comprehensive review of its management system.

The long-term parking lot at Incheon International Airport Terminal 2 is filled with travelers' vehicles ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. 2026.2.12 Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang

On May 15, Incheon International Airport Corporation released a statement saying, "Regarding the audit results by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Incheon Airport parking, we fully recognize our responsibility for causing public inconvenience due to poor management of parking passes," and added, "We will completely re-examine our deficient work systems and use this as an opportunity to innovate our parking pass management system."

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the previous day that its audit of parking fee waivers for employees of Incheon International Airport Corporation and its subsidiaries had revealed numerous cases of improper operation and evidence of misuse. This audit was conducted to assess whether employee-focused parking management had contributed to the worsening congestion at Incheon Airport, following recent reports of an escalating parking shortage.

The audit found that Incheon International Airport Corporation and its subsidiaries had issued a total of 31,265 paid and free parking passes, accounting for 84.5% of the airport's total 36,971 parking spaces.

By providing employees with free parking passes, the total amount of short-term parking fees waived at Terminals 1 and 2 last year amounted to 4.1 billion won. This represents approximately 11% of the corporation’s annual short-term parking lot revenue of 36.6 billion won.

There were also numerous cases in which free parking passes were used for personal purposes. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, last year, there were 1,220 instances (involving 1,017 employees) where employees used free parking passes during their annual leave, resulting in 79 million won in waived parking fees.

Incheon International Airport Corporation stated, "In addition, we will take the audit results on valet parking services released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in February very seriously. We will thoroughly review and improve the identified shortcomings to deliver services that meet public expectations."

The corporation further stated, "We deeply apologize for the concern and inconvenience caused to the public regarding the operation of Incheon Airport parking lots. We will do our utmost to innovate the entire parking management system, restore public trust, and provide even safer and more convenient airport services."

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