SEOUL - SOUTH Korea plans to invest 4 trillion won (S$4.4 billion) by 2015 to expand Incheon International Airport, the country's land ministry said yesterday.

It said the aim is to turn Incheon, voted by travellers as the best airport in the world this year in one survey, into a hub for North-east Asia.

Incheon competes for North Asian passenger and cargo traffic with rival airports in Hong Kong, China and Japan, where expansions and upgrades are also planned.

The South Korean government plans to add a second passenger terminal to Incheon and expand its existing cargo terminal and other infrastructure, the land ministry said in a statement.

Upon completion, Incheon will be able to handle 62 million passengers and 5.8 million tonnes of cargo a year, up from the current capacity of 44 million passengers and 4.5 million tonnes.

Construction will begin in 2011 with completion targeted for 2015, but the schedule could change depending on air travel demand, the ministry said.

Opened in 2001, Incheon boasts a golf course, a spa, a casino, private sleeping rooms and indoor gardens.

It serves as the main hub for Korean Air and archrival Asiana Airlines. Both carriers are hoping to use the airport as an 'air bridge' in which North American travellers would make the connection at Incheon to fly to other Asian cities.

Plans for Incheon's expansion also include adding more aprons to park planes and extending a railway line to downtown Seoul about 70km away, the land ministry said in its statement. The project is expected to generate about 80,000 new jobs, it added.

South Korea is eager to boost government and private spending in construction and other large-scale projects to help offset sluggish local consumption and exports that have weighed on Asia's fourth-largest economy.

REUTERS, LOS ANGELES TIMES