Socar launched a parking reservation service near airports. Moduijuchajang, Socar's online parking platform, launched an advance booking service for parking lots near Gimpo Airport and Incheon Airport, it said on Friday. Users can reserve 27 partner parking lots in the app, including 21 near Gimpo Airport and 6 near Incheon Airport. Users can enter departure and return times, compare prices and services by parking lot, and then book multi-night parking passes.

Users can select an airport and enter their schedule in the Moduijuchajang app to check in real time whether the parking lot is indoor or outdoor, whether valet, pickup and sending services are included, and the price. Previously, users had to check availability and compare prices across operators to secure a parking lot near the airport before departure. Partner parking lots can be used at the same rates without price changes even during peak periods such as the Lunar New Year holiday.

Socar expects parking demand to rise this Lunar New Year holiday period, although it is short, because taking 2 days of annual leave could allow vacations of up to 9 days.

Moduijuchajang has been running a pilot of its airport parking advance booking service since August last year. Cumulative transactions topped 3,000 over about 5 months. During periods when airport parking demand concentrates, such as traditional holidays and long weekends, reservation transactions surged. The average parking period was 3.4 days at Gimpo Airport and 5 days or more at Incheon Airport. It said long-term parking demand is occurring steadily for overseas travel and business trips.

Koo Jung-joon (구정준), head of Socar's hub partnership team, said, "We hope this advance booking service can help solve parking, the biggest stress when travelling to the airport." He added, "Based on data and verified customer demand, we will continue to build an environment where all users visiting airports can travel seamlessly without worrying about parking."