Korea Airports Corp. said on Monday that it is on course to lead a project worth 100 billion won ($88.2 million) to expand Luang Prabang International Airport in Laos.

Once the ongoing deal is finalized, the move will see the public enterprise behind Gimpo and Jeju International Airports become a first in the country to pursue such a project in the Southeast Asian country.

“Amid the prolonged coronavirus crisis and hardships surrounding it, we are honored to announce our foray into successful overseas airport businesses such as Ecuador and Laos,” CEO Son Chang-wan told a press briefing.

The announcement comes as KAC won the bid for the first phase of the project, beating competition from airport construction firms from France, Japan and Malaysia. 

Following the green light in part from Laos’ Ministry of Planning and Investment, KAC will conduct a six month-long feasibility assessment of the project. The second phase of the project will see the corporation form a consortium and begin work on the expansion of the airport’s infrastructure.

Though the deal for the second phase of the project has not been signed as of yet, several KAC officials said on Monday that discussions of the deal are currently underway and they are confident that the deal is “on course” to be completed.

The expansion project is estimated to take between 10 to 30 years depending on the length of the assessment process and Lao’s decision on the scale of investment, KAC said.

With some 1.2 million passengers traveling through Luang Prabang International Airport every year, the move is likely to see direct flights launched, helping build bridges between the two countries.

The deal is the latest in a series of overseas airport projects that KAC has landed in recent years.

In 2019, a consortium led by KAC and with three local engineering companies including Hyundai E&C signed a deal to oversee the construction of Chinchero International Airport in Peru by 2024.

It also landed a deal worth 540 billion won last month to operate Manta Airport in Ecuador by 2050.

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)