An airline check-in system failure at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport on Friday (30 October) disrupted check-in for passengers of 13 airlines. Normal ticketing operations at three Chinese carriers came to an almost complete halt, and some flights were delayed.
The Korea Herald reported that Incheon International Airport Corporation said the disruption began at around 4.30am on Friday, affecting airline networks connected to the ticketing system.
Eight airlines at Terminal 1 and five at Terminal 2 were affected, with communications disruptions continuing intermittently.
As of 2.19pm, normal ticketing operations at China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Air China had come to an almost complete halt.
The system failure led to long queues at several airlines’ check-in counters and severe congestion at the airport, with some flights delayed.
Airport authorities initially suspected that the disruption was linked to instability in the US-based global aviation communications network ARINC.
Airport officials said flight delays were mainly affecting airlines whose ticketing operations had been suspended. The authorities would further investigate the cause of the disruption and assess its impact.
