Incheon Airport airline check-in system restored... Ticketing resumed in about 5 hours (comprehensive 2nd report)

At one point in the afternoon, three Chinese airlines stopped issuing tickets at Terminal 1… Congestion and protests throughout the departure hall

1,200 departing passengers were stranded and 38 flights were delayed... “Travel schedule is messed up”

(Incheon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Sang-yeon = A problem occurred in the check-in system of some airlines at Incheon International Airport, leading to halted boarding procedures and subsequent flight delays.

According to Incheon International Airport Corporation on the 30th, a failure occurred in the airline network 'Air Link' (ARINC), which connects the ticketing system at Incheon Airport, from 4:30 am on this day.

As a result, intermittent communication interruptions continued at eight airlines in Passenger Terminal 1 and five airlines in Passenger Terminal 2.

In particular, in the afternoon, an error occurred in the ticketing system (TravelSky) of three companies, including China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Air China (Air China), and general ticketing services were suspended.

Severe congestion occurred at the check-in counters of each airline as passengers waiting for departure procedures formed long lines, and some passengers complained.

Airlines whose general ticket issuance was suspended limited hand-written ticket issuance for some passengers whose departure time was imminent.

As of 5 p.m. on this day, 38 flights heading to Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Qingdao in China were delayed, leaving about 1,200 passengers waiting.

Afterwards, the airlink network failure was restored, but errors in the airline's ticketing system continued, and it was not until 5 p.m. that full recovery was achieved and ticketing operations resumed.

However, since passengers of three airlines were unable to complete departure procedures for about five hours, it is expected that it will take a considerable amount of time for the congestion at the departure hall to be resolved.

Jinseong Noh (35) and his wife, who met in front of the Eastern Airlines counter that day, complained, "We were planning to stop by Shanghai, China and go on a trip to Egypt, but due to inevitable flight delays, all of our transfer schedules were messed up."

Some passengers whose departure time was approaching strongly protested in front of the check-in counter, saying that the airline did not inform them of the specific time for system recovery.

A Chinese woman said, "Even when I ask what the situation is, they just tell me I have to wait. It's already past the scheduled departure time, so I'm looking into whether I can receive supporting documents (regarding the delay in departure)."

Incheon International Airport Corporation began managing terminal congestion, believing that the failure occurred due to instability in the global network of the U.S. Airlink used by airlines.

An Incheon International Airport Corporation official said, "We plan to determine the cause of the network failure and ticketing system error," and added, "We will monitor the airport operation situation and strive to provide stable and smooth service."