Seoul’s Incheon International Airport recently finished its “Phase 4 expansion.” This $3 billion-plus project eliminates its biggest transportation infrastructure sore spot, adding to its primacy among global air travel capitals. In December, the airport signed a stunning deal that will see the entire terminal redeveloped. The enhancement increases its annual passenger capacity from 77 million to a whopping 106 million! With this enhancement, Incheon Airport now ranks as the world’s third-largest airport, trailing only behind Singapore’s Changi Airport and Hong Kong International Airport.
The expansion is a testament to the explosive demand for air travel in Asia, a trend that industry insiders expect will persist. According to Thomas Pellegrin, a well-known aviation analyst, this unprecedented growth in passenger demand in the region is positive. He recently projected 7.9% growth in the near term and 5.1% long-term. He noted that this growth rate is the fastest in the world and much higher than other developed or mature markets.
In 2024, Singapore’s Changi Airport welcomed 67.7 million passengers and was awarded Skytrax’s “World’s Best Airport” for the 13th time in 2025. To keep this competitive edge, Changi is currently in the planning stages of a $10 billion Terminal 5, slated to come online in the mid-2030s. This new terminal will take up a piece of land 1,080 hectares just under double the current footprint of Changi. The project envisions expanding current connectivity from 170 cities to 200 cities.
“Changi has connected our small island nation to the world and brought the world to Singapore,” said Lawrence Wong, a government official. And this connectivity has fueled our success as an air hub, sustaining industries such as tourism, aerospace, and logistics. Terminal 5 is anticipated to increase tourism revenue in Singapore from a record-breaking $29.8 billion in 2024 to an estimated $47 billion-$50 billion in the next 15 years.
At the same time, Hong Kong International Airport continues to develop impressive infrastructure of its own. In November, it opened the long-awaited third runway and is currently expanding Terminal 2. It’s master plan calls for the airport to host up to 120 million passengers per year by 2035. It additionally seeks to accommodate 10 million tonnes of cargo per year. This expansion complements Hong Kong’s strategic push towards becoming one of Asia’s premier air transit hubs.
Meanwhile, Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport has joined the expansion wave. In September 2024, a new third runway opened. This expansion increases the airport’s ability to handle up to 94 flights an hour. This airport infrastructure upgrade comes on the heels of just opening a new central terminal satellite. That terminal only opened a year before the runway.
The boom in air travel demand all over Asia is a microcosm of macroeconomic trends. Lawrence Wong remarked on the longer-term growth trajectory of air travel in the region, stating that “over the longer term, air travel is on a rising trajectory, and the bulk of the growth will take place here in the Asia-Pacific region.”