Overview
- Incheon handled 38.39 million international passengers in January–June 2026, placing it first in Airports Council International's preliminary H1 rankings reported Thursday.
- Transfer traffic at Incheon rose 18.1 percent year‑on‑year to 4.24 million, with transfers to Europe surging 63.2 percent to 210,000 passengers.
- The airport's four‑phase expansion completed in November 2024 raised international capacity to 106 million passengers a year, enabling much higher throughput.
- IIAC and multiple reports say rerouted transit flows after the U.S.–Iran conflict weakened some Middle Eastern hubs, helping divert passengers to Incheon and leaving Dubai likely outside the top five in the H1 snapshot.
- Incheon now links 183 cities across 53 countries through 101 carriers, has record foreign‑passenger share in Q2 2026, and is investing in AI and urban air mobility to strengthen its role as a global hub.