A network fault that began around 4:30 a.m. on Oct. 30 disrupted check-in at 13 airlines across Incheon Airport's Terminals 1 and 2, and from noon ticketing at three Chinese carriers in Terminal 1 stopped for a time. Everything was back by about 5 p.m.
It started at 4:30 a.m.
Instability in ARINC, the US-based global network the airlines rely on, made check-in systems at 8 airlines in Terminal 1 and 5 in Terminal 2 drop in and out all morning.
From noon, three Chinese airlines stalled
At China Southern, China Eastern and Air China counters in Terminal 1 the fault got worse and general ticketing stopped for a time. Only passengers about to depart were given boarding passes by hand.
Back at 5 p.m., 38 flights delayed
Check-in at all affected airlines came back at about 5 p.m. Newsian counted 38 delayed flights, including to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Qingdao, and about 1,200 passengers waiting as of 5 p.m.
What the airport did
Incheon Airport Corporation blames unstable ARINC network communications. With the Seoul Regional Office of Aviation it organised queues, secured walkways and added security-screening staff in the departure hall, and says it will keep monitoring operations.
About the photo
The photo at the top shows the departure-hall check-in counters in 2006, not the day of the outage.
