South Korea: Pre-flight checks found no issues, Jeju Air CEO says

Addressing questions over the company’s safety procedures on Tuesday, Jeju Air’s CEO Kim Yi-bae said the plane would not have been cleared for takeoff if the maintenance team had not signed off on its safety.

He said its pilots were trained to regulation standards, and the company had two full flight simulators.

“We have 12.9 maintenance workers per aeroplane, which has increased from 12 in 2019,” he said.

“We have a strict maintenance checklist, it is not possible to miss things. If something was missed it would be a grave problem.

“As for whether the landing gear functioned properly, that is directly related to the accident investigation, and we are not in a position to know at this time.”

Mr Kim said the airline would reduce its air traffic this winter by 10-15%, in order to be able to carry out more maintenance work on the planes, but said this was not an admission that the company was running too many planes.

He added that they would increase their monitoring of weather before and after flights.

Mr Kim also acknowledged that over the past five years, Jeju Air had paid the most fines and faced the most administrative action of any Korean airline – but said the company was consistently improving its safety record.

He said he was committed to strengthening the company’s safety and maintenance procedures, adding: “We aim to repair your trust in us by strengthening our safety measures.”