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| President Moon Jae-in talks about a possible reassessment of the country's new southeastern airport at a ceremony in Busan, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Kim Hyun-bin
The scrapped project to build a new airport in the southeastern part of the country is once again emerging as a hot-button issue after President Moon Jae-in's remarks suggested the government's reassessment of the plan.
In June 2016, the Park Geun-hye administration ditched the long-running plan to build a new gateway airport either at Gadeok Island in the southern port city of Busan or the inland town of Miryang in South Gyeongsang Province. Instead, it decided to expand Gimhae International Airport by adding another runway by 2026.
However, the President opened the door for the issue to re-emerge.
"If the five autonomous communities in the southeast agree on the plan, the decision will be smooth, but if they have different opinions we might have to give the authority to the prime minister's office to oversee the process. We hope to make a swift decision in the near future," Moon said.
Some experts say Moon's mentioning of a swift decision could mean the government will continue to pursue the Gimhae airport expansion plan.
However, others point out that Moon wanting to give the prime minister's office authority to oversee the process could mean the government wants to look at other locations for the airport.
The Busan Metropolitan Government did not squander Moon's remarks to reignite the issue.
"It is significant as it could be perceived that the President accepted our requests to build a new airport on Gadeok Island," the local government said.
However, other local governments in favor of the Gimhae airport say it's too late to overturn the decision.
"The issue regarding the new southeastern airport is already agreed upon, to expand the Gimhae airport, so there is no need for further discussion," Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin and North Gyeongsang Governor Lee Cheol-woo said in a joint statement released Thursday.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is taking a cautious stance, sticking to the expansion scheme.
"There are no changes to the expansion of the Gimhae airport plans. However, we will cooperate and gather the opinions of the local governments when establishing our general plan," a senior official from the transport ministry said.
Experts say in the past, many regional politicians took advantage of building a local airport as one of their key campaign pledges without thorough analysis of the market.
"For an airport to be successful they need at least three things: a populated city nearby, transfers to other airports and tourist attractions in the area," said Heo Hee-young, a professor at Hankuk Aviation University.
Among the nation's 14 local airports, only four ― Gimpo, Gimhae, Jeju and Daegu ― operate in the black and the rest of them are facing a deficit each year. Their accumulated losses in the last five years accounted for 353.4 billion won ($313.2 million).
