Baengnyeong airport clears feasibility review, on track for 2029 ground-breaking

A project to build a small airport on Baengnyeongdo island in Incheon's Ongjin-gun has cleared a feasibility re-examination, allowing the long-stalled project to regain momentum.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Friday that the Ministry of Planning and Budget's Fiscal Investment Evaluation Committee approved the project's feasibility re-examination at an afternoon session.

The Baengnyeongdo airport was included in the fifth long-term comprehensive airport development plan in May 2016 and passed a preliminary feasibility study in December 2022. Work on a master plan and a strategic environmental impact assessment began in May 2023, but a sharp rise in the total project cost triggered a feasibility re-examination that has been under way since November 2024.

The cost surge stemmed from an expansion of the airport's scale. The planned seating capacity of aircraft using the airport was raised from 50 seats at the time of the preliminary feasibility study to 80 seats, pushing the total project cost up 94 percent — from 201.8 billion won ($151 million) to 391.3 billion won. Under government guidelines, any project worth more than 100 billion won that sees its cost rise by 15 percent or more must undergo a feasibility re-examination.

Following the decision, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will promptly resume the suspended master plan work and strategic environmental impact assessment process. It will also address supplementary requirements set by the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, including the establishment of bird-strike prevention measures.

The ministry plans to proceed without delay through the remaining steps: consultations on the strategic environmental impact assessment, finalization and public notice of the master plan, consultations on the environmental impact assessment, and design work. If the schedule holds, the ministry expects construction to begin in 2029 and the airport to open sometime after 2033.

Lee Sang-heon, the ministry's airport policy director, said the Baengnyeong airport aligns with the current government's national goal of "balanced growth for all" and is essential to guaranteeing the mobility rights of island residents who depend on maritime transport and to improving their living conditions. "Now that the project has cleared the feasibility re-examination, we will push ahead with the follow-up procedures at pace so there are no further delays," Lee said.