The Jeju Air plane flew 13 flights in the 48 hours before the accident

Korean News Agency Yonhap Today, it was reported that Jeju Air’s Boeing 737-800 operated with high frequency before crashing at Muan Airport, South Jeolla Province on December 29, killing 179 people.

In the 48 hours before the tragedy, the Boeing 737-800 continuously flew back and forth between Muan, Jeju Island, and Incheon, west of Seoul. The plane also departed to international destinations including Beijing, Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu, Nagasaki and Taipei on the island of Taiwan.

This Boeing 737-800 mainly serves charter flights, serving the needs of large group travel organized by a travel company based in Gwangju. This unit previously provided a 5-day package tour to Bangkok for Christmas.

When returning from Bangkok on December 29, the plane apparently hit a bird and had a problem with the landing gear, forcing the pilot to land on his belly on the runway at Muan airport. However, the plane could not slow down and crashed into the concrete wall at the end of the runway and caught fire. Only two flight attendants in the rear of the plane survived.

Aviation experts are concerned whether Jeju Air is operating at excess capacity when scheduling dense charter flights during the year-end peak season.

Korean domestic airports mostly receive charter flights operated by low-cost airlines such as Jeju Air.

“Domestic airports have very few fixed-route flights, so they often welcome charter flights. Most airlines operating at domestic airports are low-cost carriers, operating mostly charter flights. bao,” a Korean tourism official said.

Jeju Air is determined to be one of the airlines with the highest average monthly aircraft operating rate among Korean domestic airlines. According to company data, the average monthly flight time of each aircraft on the airline’s payroll was 418 hours in the July-September period, the most among six domestic low-cost airlines.

Low-cost airlines in Korea often use the Boeing 737-800 aircraft model, of which Jeju Air operates the largest fleet with 39 aircraft. After the tragedy that killed 179 people, South Korea will conduct a special inspection of all of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Acting President of South Korea Choi Sang-mok also ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire aviation system.