Incheon Airport Check-In Outage and Leaves 1,200 Travelers Waiting

Photo: Arne Müseler / www.arne-mueseler.com, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE (file photo). Terminal 1 departures hall at Incheon International Airport.

A failure in the shared airline network at Incheon International Airport disrupted check-in for 13 airlines on Friday, Oct. 30, and a second fault later halted regular ticketing for three Chinese carriers, delaying 38 flights and leaving about 1,200 travelers waiting, the airport operator said. The Incheon Airport check-in outage began at 4:30 a.m. and all systems were restored by about 5 p.m., Yonhap News Agency and Financial News reported.

How the outage unfolded

The trouble started in the airline network that links ticketing systems at South Korea’s main international gateway, causing intermittent connection failures for eight airlines in Terminal 1 and five in Terminal 2, according to Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC), as reported by Yonhap. The operator blamed instability in the global network of ARINC, a U.S. aviation IT provider. IIAC has used ARINC’s common-use check-in system, shared by multiple airlines, since 2014, Chosun Biz reported.

The ARINC problem was later fixed, but a separate fault began around noon in TravelSky, the reservation and ticketing system used by China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Air China in Terminal 1, according to IIAC as cited by Financial News. Yonhap’s Korean-language service and the Chosun Biz report also described the three carriers’ ticketing as effectively halted during the afternoon; Yonhap’s Korean report named TravelSky as the system that failed. Regular ticketing at the three airlines resumed around 5 p.m., after roughly five hours.

While regular ticketing was down, the three carriers checked in some passengers by hand, prioritizing those whose departures were imminent, according to Yonhap’s Korean-language report and Financial News.

Passengers stuck in line

As of 5 p.m., 38 flights had been delayed and about 1,200 travelers were left waiting, Yonhap reported. Delayed flights included services to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Qingdao, according to Chosun Biz. Long lines formed at check-in counters, and some passengers protested that their airlines were not telling them when service would be restored. Financial News reported that the China Eastern line at the H counters stretched past the K counters to the L counters.

The airport operator said it organized queues, added security-screening staff in departure areas, asked the Ministry of Justice to send more immigration officers and deployed about 60 additional information and security staff, according to Financial News. Some domestic carriers, including Korean Air, saw slower network access in the morning without major problems for flight operations, the paper said.

Roh Jin-sung, 35, who was waiting with his wife at the China Eastern counter, told SBS the couple had planned to fly to Egypt via Shanghai and that the delay would throw off their connection. The Chonji Ilbo reported that a passenger booked to Qingdao had not been told when boarding would be possible even after the scheduled departure time had passed, and that departure boards showed a string of “delayed” notices into the evening.

“Flight operations are experiencing delays, primarily centered around airlines where ticketing services have been suspended,” an IIAC official told SBS, adding that the operator planned to determine the specific details. After service was restored, an IIAC official told the Chonji Ilbo that the operator would keep monitoring airport operations to provide smooth service. The paper said congestion was expected to linger for some time because of the passengers and delayed flights that had built up during the outage.

By the numbers

TBR calculation: from the first fault at 4:30 a.m. to full restoration at about 5 p.m., the disruption lasted about 12.5 hours, and the three Chinese carriers’ regular ticketing was down for about five of those hours.

Questions about shared systems

ARINC’s services are used by more than 300 airlines and more than 150 airports worldwide, Chosun Biz reported. The airport operator said it would look into why the network failure was followed by a ticketing-system error, Yonhap reported in Korean. The incident follows other recent technology problems in Asian aviation; see TBR’s report on the Amadeus breach exposing data on Japan Airlines, ANA and Cathay passengers. For other Korea news this week, see TBR’s report on Samsung’s record quarterly profit.

Sources

• Yonhap: Check-in system at Incheon airport restored after hourslong disruption
• Yonhap (Korean): Incheon airport check-in system restored, ticketing resumes after five hours
• Financial News: Airline check-in procedures at Incheon Airport return to normal
• Chosun Biz: Incheon airport restores airline ticketing after network outage delays 38 flights

Additional sources

• SBS: Incheon Airport check-in system glitch halts ticketing for three airlines
• Chonji Ilbo (Korean): Incheon ticketing system restored after 12 hours