Story ID: 
Korea's First Purpose-built FBO Debuts
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: Located at Seoul Gimpo International Airport, the facility includes a terminal and massive hangar.
Word Count: 189
The Seoul-Gimpo Business Aviation Center (SGBAC), South Korea’s first purpose-built FBO, opened last week at Gimpo International Airport. A partnership between Korea Airport Corp. (KAC, owner of the multimillion-dollar facility) and Avjet Asia (its manager), the facility has a two-story business aviation terminal with onsite customs, immigration and quarantine service, passenger and crew lounges and a 10-seat a/v-equipped conference room. A 255,000-sq-ft hangar can accommodate up to eight G650s at the same time. Gimpo is nine miles (14 km) from Seoul’s downtown district. Incheon International Airport, the South Korean capital's main gateway, is 30 miles (48 km) from the city center.

Over the past decade, business aviation flights at Gimpo have grown to nearly 1,200 last year from 179 in 2005. While limits on landing slots and parking stands may be issues at other Asian airports, Gimpo has 77 parking stands and a surplus of slots to ensure on-time operations.

“Seoul-Gimpo Business Aviation Center is suited as the business aviation hub of Northeast Asia,” said KAC president and CEO Sung II-Hwan. “Its opening will be the catalyst for the future growth of the business aviation market.”