An Asiana Airlines passenger jet has landed at Incheon International Airport making itself the first flight into the new airport.

The Incheon International Airport, some 60 kilometers west of Seoul, replaces the congested Gimpo International Airport as the new gateway for international flights to South Korea. Gimpo Airport will still be used for domestic flights.

The new 6.2 billion dollar airport is within three and a half hours of flying time from 43 cities with a population of more than one million. The airport is designed to handle 27 million passengers a year, and plans to expand its annual capacity to one hundred million passengers by 2020.

The construction of the airport took eight years and four months.

Asiana Airlines flight OZ-3423 carrying 245 passengers, safely landed on the runway early Thursday morning and Korean Air KE-621 bound for Manila took off at about four hours later.

The arriving passengers from Bangkok received bouquets and souvenirs from senior officials, including the Construction and Transportation Minister.