SEOUL, July 20 (Korea Bizwire) – The prolonged onslaught of the novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on many businesses and Incheon International Airport, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world, is suffering heavy damage from the fallout of the pandemic.
According to the Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), passenger volume has taken a nose-dive with the daily average number of passengers plummeting to around 7,000 people in recent weeks. Before COVID-19, around 200,000 passengers made use of the airport every day.
The airport corporation said last Saturday that for the period from January 1 through July 16, the number of visitors to the airport amounted to 18.9 million in total, only half of the tally recorded during the same period last year (38.7 million)
Due to the sharp drop in passenger volume — and largely to the sharp decline in the duty-free shop business, one of major sources of income for the company — Incheon Airport is expected to post its first deficit in 17 years. The corporation predicts that its net profit, which stood at 866 billion won last year, will plunge to a loss of 324.4 billion won this year.
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