Gimhae closed 2025 as the first regional airport in Korean history to pass ten million international passengers. Its successor — an airport built half on land and half on the sea off Gadeokdo island — is now designed and dated: opening targeted for the second half of 2035.
On 19 December 2025 Gimhae passed ten million international passengers for the year — the highest figure since the airport opened in 1976, beating the 2018 record of 9.87 million, and a first for any Korean airport outside the capital region. Weekly international operations reached 1,546 flights serving 42 cities, up from 1,306 to 41 at the 2018 peak; with domestic traffic the airport handled about 16 million passengers in 2024.
Growth came from route-building Busan paid for itself: Busan–Bali, launched in October 2024 as the first long-haul route ever started by a Korean local government (~67,000 passengers a year), and 2025's Busan–Tashkent and Busan–Almaty — the first Central Asia routes at any regional airport. For 2026 the city secured 21 extra customs and immigration staff, and the second departure hall now opens 7–10 a.m. The constraints remain: two runways of 2,743 m and 3,200 m, shared with the Air Force's 5th Air Mobility Wing.
The successor is a 6.67 million m² site off Gadeokdo island in Gangseo-gu — terminal on land, runway on the sea — budgeted at ₩15.9 trillion (13.9 for the airport, 0.7 for roads, 1.3 for rail) and designed for 24/7 operations that noise rules forbid at Gimhae. The 2065 demand case: 23.26 million international passengers and 335,000 tonnes of cargo; 378 households were relocated for the site.
The timeline slipped hard: Hyundai E&C withdrew in May 2025 after demanding 24 months beyond the 84-month schedule, the ministry extended construction to 106 months, and after two failed rebids the Daewoo E&C consortium was chosen by negotiated contract. Basic design began on 9 March 2026, priority construction starts in the second half of this year, and opening is targeted for the second half of 2035 — six years behind the original 2029 promise.
Our read: treat Gimhae as the region's working gateway for the rest of the decade — the Bali and Central Asia experiments prove long-haul works from here, and the ten-million milestone will keep attracting routes. Fly direct if your city has the service; the Incheon connection honestly adds two hours door to door. Gadeokdo matters for trips you are planning in the 2030s, not 2027.
Subscribe to the digest and receive key market signals every two weeks.