On New Year's Day, a Korean Air passenger plane scheduled to fly to Macau from Incheon International Airport had to be replaced due to a malfunction in the air conditioning system. The aircraft with the defect was manufactured by Boeing, the American company that produced the Jeju Air passenger plane involved in a crash last month on the 29th that resulted in a large number of casualties.
According to Korean Air on the 2nd, flight KE169, which was to depart for Macau at 9:35 p.m. the previous day from Incheon International Airport, was grounded due to a discovered defect in the aircraft before takeoff. Passengers waited for about two hours on board and then switched to another aircraft and departed at 1:30 a.m. on the 2nd, four hours later.
The aircraft that was unable to take off due to the discovered defect was a Boeing B737-900 model. The replacement aircraft was also a Boeing B737-8 model. Although it was a different model from the Boeing B737-800 involved in the Jeju Air accident, it is known that passengers were anxious as another defect was found in Boeing aircraft.
Korean Air noted, "There was an issue with the supply system that provides air to the aircraft, which caused a defect message to be displayed, and we replaced the aircraft to continue operations."
As an apology, Korean Air provided over 100 passengers with electronic discount coupons worth 80,000 won.