As the peak summer vacation season begins, commonly referred to as late July and early August, parking chaos is unfolding at airports across the country.

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

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

An on-site parking management staff member stated, "It has been at capacity since morning, so we are blocking entry and managing it on a one-in, one-out basis. Parking shortages are at their worst during vacation seasons like this."

The situation is similar at regional airports, with all available online parking areas at Daegu, Gimhae, and Cheongju airports completely full.

Incheon Airport, which recently reduced employee regular parking passes and raised fees to ease parking shortages, still had some spare space, but certain terminals experienced severe congestion.

With a surge in outbound vacationers, electronic billboards displayed notices reading "Very Congested" for some 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 a few times because there were no spots. I usually park above ground, but since it is summer I came underground, and whether above or below ground, you have to circle a few times to find a spot."


Workers at Incheon International Airport reported that internal backlash is continuing due to the reduction of employee regular parking passes and increased parking fees.

Mr. A, who is in charge of transportation operations at the airport, confessed, "While I sympathize with the point that accessible parking areas should be provided to consumers, it is questionable that employees who used parking passes while paying legitimate fees 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 the number of resident employees is so large, everyone says there is a shortage of spaces."

They added, "They are raising fees as much as they want while not even guaranteeing 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 continue for the time being.