Incheon International Airport Corp., the operator of South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, is looking to extend its airport operations expertise to emerging markets in Eastern Europe as it has begun efforts to score new deals to develop and operate new airports in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The move comes after the Incheon Airport operator won a bid to operate Kuwait’s newly-built Terminal 4 in a deal valued at 140 billion won ($128 million) earlier this month, marking its biggest overseas contract to date.

IIAC President and CEO Chung Il-young visited the Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland and the Vaclav Havel Airport Prague in the Czech Republic last week to promote the IIAC’ s airport development and operations know-how to local government officials in the two countries.

Poland’s government is currently pushing to build a new airport by 2027 to address capacity issues while the Czech Republic is planning to invest around 1.4 trillion won by 2020 to expand its second domestic terminal and add a new runway, according to the IIAC.

In Poland, the IIAC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Prague International Airport Corp. to carry out joint research on smart airport implementation and finding ways to deal with increasing passenger and air cargo.

The IIAC hopes that its internationally-recognized track record of airport operations and specialized expertise will help it strike new deals with new partners in Eastern Europe.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)