After eight years and four months of construction work, Incheon International Airport will be opened next Thursday.

President Kim Dae-jung was on hand at the ceremony opening the new airport off Incheon about 60 kilometers west of Seoul. The president said that with the most advanced equipment and facilities, Incheon International Airport symbolizes the era of the Korean Peninsula. Also on hand were National Assembly Speaker Lee Man-sup, Construction and Transportation Minister Kim Yoon-ki, and other senior officials and five thousand citizens.

The new international airport will replace Kimpo International Airport as the main gateway to South Korea. The passenger terminal can handle 27 million passengers annually and 8,400 pieces of luggage per hour. A separate cargo terminal has the capacity of handling one point seven million tons of cargo per year, and the twin runways can accommodate 170,000 flights per year.

7.8 trillion won or about 6 billion U.S. dollars has been put into the construction of the airport that sprawls out on a 56 million square meter complex.

The airport will begin operations next Thursday.