Incheon Airport AI Passenger Guidance Wins an Award at the 'Red Dot Design Award'

Conversational Guidance Using Digital Humans
Voice Guidance in 4 Languages, Text Chat in 12
Braille Keyboard Added, Accessibility Improved

Incheon International Airport Corporation has earned recognition at an international design awards ceremony for its passenger guidance service featuring AI-powered virtual guides.

AI Airport Guidance Service at Incheon International Airport Corporation. Photo: Incheon International Airport Corporation

Incheon International Airport Corporation announced on November 9 that Incheon Airport's AI-powered guidance service had won an award in the Brands & Communication Design category at the Red Dot Design Award 2026, one of the world's three major design awards.

The Red Dot Design Award is an annual design competition organized by Germany's Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen. It recognizes innovation and quality in the categories of Product Design, Brands & Communication Design, and Design Concept. Along with Germany's iF Design Award and the U.S.-based International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), it is considered one of the world's three major design awards.

This year's ceremony was held at the Konzerthaus Berlin in Germany on November 6 (local time). The corporation won an award in the Brands & Communication Design category for the usability and digital communication strengths of its "Incheon Airport AI Human Passenger Guidance Service (ICN A.I.)," introduced this year.

The AI airport guidance service, introduced by the corporation in January this year as the first of its kind at a public institution, uses AI-powered virtual guides (digital humans) to provide a range of airport information, including flight details, airport facilities, ground transportation, and immigration procedures.

The devices are located in front of check-in counters C and D, and L and K, in the departure hall on the third floor of Incheon Airport Terminal 1. Using airport-specific guidance data powered by AI, they provide visitors with natural, conversational responses to their questions, improving passenger convenience.

Other features include enhanced multilingual guidance and improved accessibility for people with disabilities, reflecting the airport's diverse range of visitors and their needs. Voice guidance is available in four languages: Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese. Text-based chat provides information in 12 languages: Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese, Thai, and Russian. The service also incorporates barrier-free design and a Braille keyboard to improve usability for visitors with disabilities.

Last year, the corporation won an award in the Customer Experience category at Germany's iF Design Award for Incheon Airport+, its mobile application for airport information. This year, it won an award at the Red Dot Design Award for its AI human guidance service, again demonstrating its design capabilities in smart airport guidance.

Kim Beomho, acting president of Incheon International Airport Corporation, said, "This award is especially meaningful because it recognizes our efforts to drive smart innovation and improve passenger convenience at Incheon Airport on the global stage. We will continue to accelerate our efforts to build a smart airport powered by advanced technologies, improve passenger convenience, and strengthen the competitiveness of airports in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.