Analysis – Jet crash in South Korea puts safety of fast-growing Jeju Air under scrutiny Reuters
By Hyunjoo Jin and Dan Catchpole
SEOUL/SEATTLE (Reuters) – Before it suffered the deadliest accident in South Korea’s history, low-cost airline Jeju Air was moving fast: collecting record numbers of passengers and flying its planes more than domestic rivals and many of its global competitors, data shows.
The high “utilization rate” of Jeju Air’s planes – the number of hours they fly in a day – is not problematic in itself, experts say, but it means planning enough time for necessary maintenance is crucial.
Authorities suggested a bird strike contributed to the crash, but as part of their investigation into the Boeing (NYSE: ) 737-800 incident, police raided the airline’s office in Seoul to seize documents related to the plane’s operation and maintenance.
“You’re literally looking at everything,” said aviation safety and accident investigation expert Anthony Brickhouse. “You’ll start with their accident history and safety history. What events have they had in the past, what happened, what was done to correct the problems?”
Jeju Air told Reuters it had not neglected maintenance procedures and would step up its safety efforts. The Dec. 29 crash, which killed 179 people, was the airline’s first fatal accident since it was founded in 2005 and the first for any Korean airline in more than a decade.
The company’s chief executive, Kim E-bae – who is barred from overseas travel during the investigation – said at a press conference last week that Jeju’s maintenance met regulatory standards and there were no maintenance problems with the crashed plane during pre-flight inspections.
He acknowledged that the airline’s security measures had been inadequate in the past, but said improvements had been made.
Authorities have not said poor maintenance contributed to the crash, and the exact circumstances behind the disaster remain unclear.
In addition to the reported bird strike, authorities are investigating why the pilot may have rushed a second landing attempt after declaring an emergency and why the landing gear was not deployed.
Investigators recovered the cockpit and flight data recorders, but have not released any details.
The country’s transport regulator is inspecting all 101 737-800 aircraft in South Korea – more than a third of which are operated by Jeju Air – focusing on how often and how well the planes are maintained, among other things.
Although it has not recorded any violations in the past two years, it was hit with more fines and suspensions for aviation law violations than any of its domestic rivals in 2020-2022, just during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the data shows.
According to transport ministry data on major airlines from 2020 to August 2024, Jeju Air was hit with about 2.3 billion won ($1.57 million) in fines, and affected planes were out of service for a total of 41 days, according to Reuters calculations. based on the data.
The next most fined airline, T’way Air, had 2.1 billion won in fines and four days of suspension during that period.
Jeju Air flies its planes more than any other major airline in the country, data shows, and also outperforms most global competitors such as Ireland’s Ryanair and Malaysia’s AirAsia.
Jeju Air 7C2216 was flying from the Thai capital of Bangkok to Muan in southwestern South Korea at night when it landed on its belly, overshot the runway and burst into flames after hitting an embankment. The plane flew every day in 2024, according to flight data reviewed by Reuters.
USAGE RATES
High utilization rates are valued in the industry as an indicator of economic efficiency, especially among low-cost carriers, experts say.
Jeju Air, which is behind only Korean Air and Asiana Air in the number of passengers in the country, recorded record numbers from January to December 2024, according to data from the transport ministry.
Its monthly passenger aircraft utilization hours almost doubled to 412 in 2023 from 2022, more than Korean Air’s 332 hours and Asiana Airlines’ 304 hours, according to stock exchange data.
T’way averaged 366 hours per month in passenger and cargo aircraft combined, Jin Air (KS:) averaged 349 hours and Air Busan 319 hours, according to their documents.
In 2024, Jeju Air flew its planes more each day – 11.6 hours – than almost any other low-cost, narrow-body airline, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, which calculates utilization rates differently from data about earnings.
Only Air Arabia from Saudi Arabia flew its planes more – 12.5 hours a day. Vietnam’s VietJet flew its planes 10 hours a day. Ryanair used an average of 9.3 hours, while Malaysia’s AirAsia used 9 hours. Chinese Spring Airlines flew 8 hours a day.
“The use itself is not the problem,” said Sim Jai-dong, a professor of aircraft maintenance at Sehan University in South Korea. “But there could be more fatigue for pilots, crew members and mechanics given the higher utilization rates.”
($1 = 1453.9500 Won)
