Woo Ki-hong, President of Korean Air, Announces "Special Safety Inspection for A330 Aircraft Model"

Attended the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's 'Aviation Safety Emergency Measures Review Meeting'
"Efforts in Various Areas Including Establishing a Safe Flight System"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Woo Ki-hong, CEO of Korean Air, recently announced plans to conduct a special safety inspection on the A330-300 aircraft involved in a runway excursion incident and to make efforts in various areas, including deploying new aircraft to establish a safe flight operation system.

On the 2nd, Woo participated in the "Aviation Safety Emergency Countermeasure Inspection Meeting" hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stating, "We will conduct a comprehensive special safety inspection on the A330 model," and added, "Out of the 30 A330 aircraft currently owned by Korean Air, 6 will be retired, and the remaining aircraft will be divided into groups of 5 for focused inspections."

The A330 model recently experienced incidents such as a runway excursion at Cebu Airport and engine problems leading to diversions. He said, "We are taking the recent runway excursion at Cebu Airport and two engine-related diversions very seriously," emphasizing, "All employees agree that securing a perfect safe flight operation system is the company's top priority, and we will thoroughly analyze, inspect, and improve safety risk factors throughout the company."

In particular, he outlined plans to strengthen safety efforts across various fields. First, they will pursue an objective evaluation of the safety management system and safe flight operation system by external professional organizations. This aims to review whether there are any areas for improvement in the company’s safety culture and safety management procedures from an external objective perspective.

Additionally, since September, they have been conducting focused inspections on safety and service sectors at 20 overseas airports, including ground handling, and are promptly addressing necessary matters for safe flight operations, he emphasized. Alongside this, aircraft modernization is underway. By 2028, Korean Air plans to introduce a total of 90 new aircraft, including 10 B787-9s, 20 B787-10s, 30 B737-8s, and 30 A321neos. The aging aircraft will be gradually retired in line with the introduction of new models.

Investment will also be made not only in acquiring aircraft but also in training and maintenance. He explained, "In 2022, we invested approximately 540 billion KRW to acquire aircraft, engines, and simulators," adding, "Next year, we plan to invest about 1.5 trillion KRW for fleet modernization, including 1.4 trillion KRW for aircraft and 64 billion KRW for engines." He further noted, "In the maintenance sector, we plan to invest about 400 billion KRW to secure spare engines and proactively procure maintenance parts in preparation for business recovery."

Korean Air intends to continuously strive to secure and strengthen training for personnel directly related to safety, including operations, maintenance, cabin crew, and transportation. He emphasized, "For employees returning from leave, we provide thorough training considering the gap period to ensure they are equipped with safety capabilities before assigning them to work," and added, "We will resume operations only after establishing a perfect safe flight operation system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.