[Insight & Opinion] Regional Airports Promoted by Politicians Must Be Reviewed

Attracting Projects Without Economic Feasibility
Poor Operation in Budgets, Facilities, and Personnel
Politicians Exploiting Regional Selfishness Must Be Held Accountable

“Beware of Bird Strikes”

This was a warning message sent from the Muan Airport control tower to a pilot making an emergency landing. Can this even be called a warning? How can a pilot attempting an emergency landing at over 500 km/h be expected to “beware” of anything? If migratory birds during winter are a risk factor, then radar and other surveillance equipment, bird guidance and deterrent devices should be installed to prevent flocks of birds from approaching the airport. Not only physical facilities but also a permanent bird response organization should be operated. What kind of caution can the pilot realistically exercise?

In fact, there are similar cases on land roads. On highways, there are signs that say “Fog Frequent Area.” These warnings are completely unnecessary for drivers. When there is no fog, obviously no warning is needed, and when fog is severe, auxiliary facilities like fog guidance lights are required instead of just warning signs. In extreme cases, safety personnel should be dispatched. The “Beware of Falling Rocks” signs on mountain roads are the same. What exactly are drivers supposed to be cautious about? Should they slow down or speed up? Preventing falling rocks is the responsibility of road management authorities, but they shift the responsibility by putting up unnecessary signs. Such superficial, routine measures to avoid responsibility are widespread instead of proactive solutions.

After a major disaster, there is now much debate about whether the runway length is appropriate or not. A detailed investigation will likely reveal more deficiencies in facilities and operational shortcomings as an international airport. It is only natural to thoroughly investigate whether the low-cost airline involved in the accident had operational management issues and whether the supervisory authorities fulfilled their roles properly.

However, we must also inspect regional airports that politicians have aggressively promoted despite lacking economic justification for their establishment, even presenting false demand surveys (current usage is about one-fortieth of the projected passengers, which borders on fraud). Airports that do not even have sufficient budgets for normal operation will inevitably lack basic facilities, auxiliary facilities, and operational personnel. As years pass, concerns about aging infrastructure and poor management will only grow. Efforts to avoid deficits by operating international flights are underway, but under such poor conditions, these efforts are bound to fall short. Therefore, even if there are no problems under normal circumstances, emergency response capabilities will inevitably be inadequate.

There is no choice but to promptly handle the accident that occurred, but at least lessons should be learned. For local projects influenced by political pressure, including new airports, economic feasibility and validity must be more thoroughly examined, and if insufficient, progress should be halted. Even the president has intervened with measures like exemption from preliminary feasibility studies, which could lead to unforeseen problems later.

Moreover, local airports should either be closed or have robust corrective measures implemented instead of being poorly operated while running deficits. Although Korea is a small country, with developed transportation including KTX, there was no reason to have airports in every region. The country should focus on developing a few airports with global competitiveness.

Regional balanced development and decentralization aligned with national macro development are important, but regional selfishness is not only inefficient for the country but also fosters poor management. Tracing the root causes, politicians are the problem everywhere. A country where irrational and inefficient policies are decided by unscrupulous politicians has no hope.

Securing budgets and attracting regional projects should not be the sole role of lawmakers, yet their reports and local banners are filled only with self-praise about budgets and projects. The electorate must weed out politicians who exploit regional selfishness.

Kim Hong-jin, CEO of Work Innovation Lab