Incheon completes UAM flight demonstration between Yeongjongdo and Deokjeokdo

Urban Air Mobility K-UAM Grand Challenge Incheon International Airport AI traffic management 5G satellite communication

Incheon City, Incheon International Airport Corporation, and the ‘K-UAM One Team’—comprising KT, Korean Air, Hyundai Motor, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction—have successfully completed a demonstration of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) services connecting Yeongjongdo and Deokjeokdo islands.

This project, part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s ‘K-UAM Grand Challenge,’ aimed to verify the feasibility of public UAM services to improve transportation accessibility for island residents, specifically for medical access, essential services, and emergency transport. The demonstration utilized helicopters as surrogate aircraft to test flight routes, vertiport operation systems, and traffic management technologies.

Key technological milestones included KT’s verification of an AI-based traffic management platform and a hybrid communication network combining 5G and satellite technology, which achieved a 100% communication success rate. Korean Air utilized its proprietary ‘Across’ integrated control system to manage flight traffic and safety. This marks the first domestic case where central and local governments collaborated with private enterprises to verify public-use UAM routes from design to actual flight verification.

Entities

Hyundai Motor Company · Incheon · Incheon Institute · Incheon International Airport Corporation · Incheon Metropolitan City · Incheon Police Agency · KT · Korea Road Traffic Authority · Korean Air

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

[● 4 SOURCES] The bus location information collection cycle has been shortened from 60 seconds to 3 seconds.
[● 4 SOURCES] Incheon will expand real-time traffic signal information to 1,635 intersections starting in November.
[● 2 SOURCES] The city aims to link with the national parking information system by December 2027.
[● 4 SOURCES] The expansion will increase the proportion of signalized intersections providing real-time information from 20.5% to 40.2%.
[● 4 SOURCES] The city plans to install 209 new bus information displays by the end of the year.
[● 3 SOURCES] Data from Gangneung showed real-time signal information reduced speeding rates by 9.45 percentage points.