After two years of planning, Seoul City’s plan to install floating airfields to operate seaplanes on the Han River went back to square one Sunday.

According to officials, the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to hold off the plan due to safety concerns, noise pollution issues and low economic feasibility -- as was widely expected by experts.

Since 2014, the city government has been reviewing plans to operate seaplanes on the country’s fourth-longest river in the capital, in a bid to boost tourism and develop resources surrounding the Han River.

It was previously discussed that floating airfields would be installed either near Jamsil Bridge, which connects Songpa-gu and Gwangjin-gu in the eastern part of the city, or at Yeongdong Bridge, which links Seongdong-gu to Gangnam-gu, Seoul City said.

However, earlier this year, the city’s seaplane project was turned down by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Land due to the inappropriate location and a lack of cases of floating airfield installation to reference.

Experts also argued that operating seaplanes on the Han River poses great danger to citizens, as there are a lot of skyscrapers in adjacent areas that could hamper flying and lead to collisions.

They also highlighted the inconvenience to citizens who use other means of transport at the Han River -- such as cruise ships and water taxis -- as well as possible noise pollution caused by takeoffs and landings.

Meanwhile, the city government said that it would resume operation of water taxis on the Han River later this month.

In 2014, water taxis were suspended after it was found that Cheonghaejin Marine Co. -- a shipping company linked to the sinking of the Sewol ferry in April 2014 -- was its operator.

Water taxis were introduced as an alternative means of transport to avoid traffic jams, but the service operators have been losing money, as their average number of passengers daily was just seven, while 3.7 billion won ($3.34 million) went into the venture. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)