South Korean airline Jeju Air is facing a wave of cancellations after the deadly crash of one of its planes on Sunday. Song Kyung-hoon, head of Jeju Air’s support department, acknowledged that “the cancellation rate is slightly higher than usual” but assured that “new bookings, however, remain stable.” Since the crash, around 68,000 flights have been canceled, including 33,000 on the domestic network and the rest internationally, reported an anonymous company official.
Travel agencies are also reporting an increase in cancellations. “We identified at least 400 in the first hour of opening,” said an anonymous official at a major South Korean agency, adding that “many customers ask if they are going to fly on a Boeing 737-800 and , if so, want to cancel.”
A new incident occurred on Monday
The situation worsened Monday morning when another Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 encountered a problem with its landing gear, already blamed in Sunday’s accident, according to Song Kyung-hoon. These events led to a 15% drop in Jeju Air stock and a 12% drop for its largest shareholder, AK Holdings Inc. Many local travel companies also saw their shares fall by more than 5%.
Find our file on plane accidents
In response, South Korean authorities announced a “comprehensive inspection” of all Boeing 737-800s operated by domestic airlines to ensure flight safety. The accident, which occurred at Muan airport in the southwest of the country, caused the death of 179 of the 181 people on board. According to the authorities, the collision with birds is the presumed cause of the tragedy. The plane, a Boeing 737-800, attempted an emergency landing before hitting a wall at the end of the runway and catching fire.
Source: www.20minutes.fr
