South Korea aims to rebuild its aviation safety system from scratch, the transport ministry said on Tuesday, launching a new committee to improve air travel in the country that suffered two major aviation incidents a month apart.
"In order to restore trust in our country's aviation safety system, the government will make a determined effort to rebuild the aviation safety system from the ground up," Deputy Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Baek Won-kuk will tell the committee, the ministry statement said.
The government must address aviation safety as a top priority, he added.
In the deadliest air disaster ever on South Korean soil, a plane belonging to budget airline Jeju Air crashed at the country's Muan airport on Dec. 29, killing all but two of the 181 passengers and crew members on board.
Duck remains were found in both engines of the plane, a preliminary investigation report said, indicating bird strikes occurred before the crash. Air accidents are nearly always caused by a combination of factors, according to experts.
Last week, an Air Busan plane was engulfed in flames at Busan's international airport as the low-cost carrier's jet prepared to depart, with all on board evacuated safely.
The fire was first detected by a flight attendant in an overhead luggage bin in the rear of the plane, Air Busan has said.
Investigations into the causes of both incidents are ongoing.
The 10-week committee will include private sector experts and will look at issues including maintenance and aircraft utilization rates at budget airlines, and airport construction and operation.
In response to the Jeju Air crash, which saw the plane belly land but then plough into a concrete embankment supporting navigation equipment past the end of Muan's runway, authorities already said they would amend similar structures at seven airports around the country.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
4 Comments
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Samit Basu
@Agent_Neo
Actually they do. Korea banned the importation of used Japanese ferries after Sewol disaster as Japanese ferries are deemed not stable enough in Korea's rough coastal waters, now all new ferries are required to be built in Korea using Korea's passenger ship safety standard.
As for two recent airline incidents, the first one was actually an excellent airmanship(The captain was a former fighter pilot and this is why he was able to maneuver aggressively the way he did and belly land on runway when he lost both engines and all electrical power) that ended in tragedy due to poor runway design.
The second fire incident wasn't airline's fault. Lithium batteries are fire hazards, especially Chinese ones.
JeffLee
@Peter Neil
The decision to construct a concrete embankment right at the end of the runway instead of a collapsable one came from within the system and was approved by it.
Agent_Neo
The unfortunate thing about South Korea is that even when man-made disasters occur, they don't do anything to improve the future.
If measures had been taken against bird strikes and the embankment had not been piled up, the plane might not have exploded, with only the engine burning.
Those responsible will be held accountable, but their findings will not be put to good use.
Man-made disasters that claim hundreds of casualties will likely occur periodically from now on.
Peter Neil
it was a singular, not systemic failure.