Twenty-six checked bags failed to be loaded onto nine Jin Air (272450.KS) aircraft at Incheon International Airport in two separate incidents on the 4th and the 10th.
Two Incidents in Six Days, 26 Bags Left Behind
According to the aviation industry on the 20th, 16 checked bags were not loaded onto four Jin Air aircraft departing from Terminal 2 at Incheon International Airport on Sept. 4.
Six days later, on Sept. 10, the situation repeated itself, with 10 bags left off five Jin Air aircraft. Most of the cases in both incidents involved morning flights to Japan, including Tokyo and Fukuoka.
Incheon airport has an automated system that transports and sorts baggage by flight, but delays in security screening at the time meant the check-in counter belts did not operate normally, according to sources.
The airline notified passengers that their bags had been left behind and delivered the baggage on later flights. It also sent a letter to Incheon International Airport Corp. asking for measures to prevent a recurrence and to compensate affected passengers.
Given that Incheon airport's rate of unloaded baggage stood at two per million bags last year, the latest cases are seen as unusual.
Given that Terminal 2 handles about 100,000 bags a day, the fact that such incidents recurred more than 10 times in the span of 10 days suggests that the damage may have extended beyond Jin Air to other carriers such as Air Seoul and Air Busan. That has raised the possibility that other carriers, including Air Seoul and Air Busan (298690.KS), may also have been affected.
Airport Operator Calls It Temporary as Staffing Gap Persists
Some point to the halt, since the 1st, of security screening staff from Terminal 1 being dispatched to support Terminal 2.
Previously, after Asiana Airlines (020560.KS) moved to Terminal 2, 50 Terminal 1 security screeners supported Terminal 2 operations in the morning and 10 in the afternoon. That support has since been suspended after labor and management at Incheon International Airport Security failed to agree on how the arrangement should work.
The union is holding to the position that fundamental staffing expansion through new hiring is needed rather than temporary personnel support, according to sources.
With no progress in labor-management talks and the Chuseok, National Foundation Day and Hangeul Day holidays falling in succession, there are concerns that baggage could again be left behind. On the 27th, the last day of the Chuseok holiday, Incheon airport is expected to handle 245,318 passengers, the busiest day of the holiday period.
An official at Incheon International Airport Corp. said, "We see the recent cases of unloaded baggage as a temporary phenomenon," adding that the company "plans to maintain an emergency duty system and other steps so that similar problems do not occur."
