Mr. Park, 38, experienced an excruciatingly long wait before he boarded a flight to Nha Trang, Vietnam, departing from Incheon International Airport at 9:50 p.m. late last month. He arrived at the airport at around 7 p.m. on Dec. 27, nearly three hours before the flight, but the line at the security checkpoint inside the departure hall was so long that he reached the boarding gate only 10 minutes before departure at around 9 40 p.m. “I don’t understand why so many security checkpoints are left closed,” he said in frustration.
Travelers are increasingly frustrated with the lengthy departure procedures at Incheon Airport. Long lines at security checkpoints, which screen passengers and their carry-on luggage inside the departure hall, have become a recurring problem.
The new security equipment the airport introduced to improve the speed and accuracy of the screening process has reportedly been causing issues, according to sources familiar with the matter. A lack of sufficient staff to fully operate the equipment has further exacerbated the situation.
According to Incheon Airport and the Security Checkpoint Workers' Union on Jan. 20, less than one-third of the airport’s security checkpoints are operational during peak hours, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., when passenger numbers are at their highest. The airport and the union cite a “lack of manpower” for this setback. Only six out of 21 security checkpoints at Terminal 2 Departure Gate 1 were functioning, leaving over 70% of the facilities underutilized.
While some suggest adjusting staff schedules so that more people can work during peak hours, the union claims that the workload would be unsustainable with the current staffing shortage even if the airport opted for such flexibility. Security screeners work four days a week in seven shifts, with some pulling grueling 15-hour shifts from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m., which is 13.5 hours of actual work excluding breaks. This workload far exceeds the legal 40-hour workweek. Even during peak hours, nearly half of all staff and 75% of those scheduled to work are engaged in security screening duties.
Incheon Airport has been rolling out new security screening equipment since 2022 to improve screening accuracy and efficiency. All 33 checkpoints in Terminal 1 now use the updated equipment, while at Terminal 2, only 7 of the 35 checkpoints have been upgraded, with the remaining 28 still using older models.
The older equipment relied on X-ray technology, which required screeners to analyze two-dimensional images to detect potentially dangerous or prohibited items. The new equipment’s computed tomography (CT) technology provides 360-degree, three-dimensional images that can be rotated, allowing for a more detailed luggage inspection.
While the older machines could handle 145 bags per hour, the new equipment can screen up to 260 bags per hour, significantly improving processing speed. Scanning a single bag now takes 14 seconds, compared to 25 seconds with the older equipment.
However, the new equipment requires more staff—7 workers per checkpoint, compared to 4.5 for the older ones. When factoring in this limitation, the hourly processing efficiency per staff member has increased by just 7.8%, from 32.2 passengers to 34.7.
The new equipment, while promising, is reportedly prone to malfunctions that hinder overall efficiency. The union claims that the equipment features more radiation-shielding lead curtains at the entrance, which often causes lightweight items, such as scarves, to fall out of the plastic security bins. When this happens, the equipment must be shut down and reset, which takes about four minutes, equivalent to the time needed to process the luggage of 16 passengers. However, an Incheon Airpot official said, “Cases of items falling out of security bins are extremely rare.”
The union also pointed out that the machines generate an error if a carry-on bag is not scanned within 15 seconds, requiring staff to manually rescan and inspect the luggage. These issues contribute to longer wait times at security checkpoints.
Industry insiders argue that introducing updated security equipment is insufficient to meet the growing demand for departures at Incheon Airport. According to airport statistics, a daily average of 3,809 passengers departed from Terminal 2 between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. in December last year.
