"Circling for Spots": Parking Nightmare Before Vacation as Employees Lose Spaces

With the peak summer vacation season running from late July to early August, a severe parking crisis is unfolding at airports across the country.

According to the Korea Airports Corporation, as of yesterday afternoon (the 28th), major airports nationwide—including Gimpo, Daegu, Gimhae, and Cheongju—reported that most of their parking lots were at full capacity.

At Gimpo Airport, long lines of vehicles formed to enter the parking lot, requiring drivers to wait outside for about 20 minutes before reaching the entrance.

An on-site parking management staff member said, "It has been full since the morning, so we are blocking entry and managing it on a one-in, one-out basis. The parking shortage is at its worst during peak vacation seasons like this."

The situation is similar at regional airports, with all parking zones visible online at Daegu, Gimhae, and Cheongju airports completely filled.

Incheon Airport, which recently reduced regular parking passes for employees and raised parking fees to ease the parking shortage, still had some available space, but certain terminals experienced severe congestion.

With a surge in outbound vacationers, electronic signs displayed "very congested" warnings for certain floors of Terminal 2's parking lot, showing that inconveniences have not been fully resolved.

A user met at the Terminal 1 parking lot said, "I did have to circle the parking lot once because there were no spots. I usually park above ground, but came underground because it is summer, and whether above or underground, you have to circle around a few times to find a space."


Incheon International Airport workers stated that internal backlash is continuing due to the reduction of employee regular parking passes and the increase in parking fees.

Mr. A, who handles transportation operations at the airport, confided, "While I sympathize with the point that we need to provide easily accessible parking areas for consumers, it is questionable that employees who paid legitimate fees and used parking passes have also suffered disadvantages."

Flight attendant B from a domestic airline also complained, "Employee parking areas are currently restricted to the 4th and 5th floors of the long-term parking lot, but since there are so many resident staff, everyone says there is a shortage of spaces."

They added, "They are raising fees as they please while failing to guarantee even the minimum level of autonomy regarding parking spaces."

Previously, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport secured approximately 6,200 temporary parking spaces at airports nationwide as part of a special summer vacation traffic countermeasure running until the 10th of next month.

However, as this falls short of meeting the explosively increased demand from vacationers during the holiday season, the chronic airport parking shortage is expected to persist for the time being.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.