Jeju Air Denies Maintenance Negligence As All 175 Passengers & 4 Crew Confirmed Dead In Fatal Crash

Authorities in the last few hours have confirmed that all 175 passengers and four crew members were killed in Sunday morning’s tragic crash at South Korea’s Muan International Airport. Jeju Air, meanwhile, has rejected claims that the accident was down to a lack of proper maintenance. The company’s Chief Executive Officer has already said in a press briefing this morning that he takes full responsibility for the event, “regardless of the cause” and bowed in apology.

A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 was attempting to land at the airport following a service from Bangkok. Video footage shows the aircraft’s landing gears failing to retract properly. It landed on its belly before veering directly into a wall at the end of the runway. The aircraft was engulfed in flames, with authorities on the scene reporting that only the tail remained a “little bit” distinguishable.

181 people were on board the flight, including 175 passengers and six crew members. Two crew members are reported to have been rescued and taken to a hospital facility outside of airport grounds. Simple Flying has been covering and updating the article below with the full developments since earlier this morning after the accident occurred.

Jeju Air denies maintenance carelessness

According to Chosun Biz, Song Kyung-hoon, Head of the management support division at Jeju Air, has said that the accident was not related to maintenance negligence. At a press briefing on Sunday following the crash, Kyung-hoon said:

“We prioritize safe flight and conduct thorough maintenance before and after departures, so this is not an issue of maintenance negligence.”

He added:

“We will secure accommodations for the bereaved families in areas such as Gwangju, Mokpo, and Muan, and we plan to support the families of the passengers who are coming to the site of the accident. The aircraft is covered by a liability insurance policy of $1 billion (1.476 trillion won), so we will ensure that support for the victims is sufficient.”

An uncertain cause

It is still not clear what caused the Jeju Air crash. What is known is that the aircraft had declared a Mayday emergency call to Air Traffic Control after it became clear that it had been hit by a bird. While the exact location of the damage that the bird strike inflicted on the plane is unknown, video footage shows that the plane’s landing gears did not properly deploy.

A passenger onboard, quoted by local media, said in a text message to a family member that the bird “was stuck in the wing”.

After receiving the Mayday call, air traffic controllers directed the plane to land in the opposite direction. The aircraft touched down without wheels and skidded down the runway before coming into contact with a wall. The cockpit pilot has over 9800 hours of flight experience and has been in his position since 2019.

Investigators are currently examining the situation. According to Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun, quoted by Reuters, weather conditions and the bird strike are being analyzed as potential causes.

Passengers onboard & timeline of events

181 people were on board the flight. Of the two survivors from the flight crew, one was a man and the other was a woman. South Korea’s Yonhap News agency reports that 82 people onboard were men and 93 were women. The age range stemmed from as young as three up to 78 years old. Authorities have said that five people killed in the crash were under the age of 10. The majority are known to have been in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Everyone was of South Korean nationality except for two Thai nationals.

The timeline of events looks broadly as follows according to a compilation of local and international reports.

• 08:54: Bird strike warning was issued
• 08:59: Mayday declared
• 09:03: aircraft lands, without the landing gear deployed
• 11:30: cockpit voice recorder recovered
• 14:24: flight data recorder recovered
• 21:00: 179 confirmed dead