The T'way Air flight, which received a decision from the court in March to pay compensation and economic damages to 150 passengers due to the controversy over 'aircraft swapping,' was again significantly delayed due to aircraft maintenance issues.
According to the airline industry on the 15th, T'way Air flight TW306, departing from Kansai International Airport in Osaka to Incheon on the 11th, took off at 11:47 p.m., 4 hours and 42 minutes later than the scheduled departure time of 7:05 p.m. (local time). Passengers reportedly returned to Incheon on a replacement aircraft (HL8030) from Incheon instead of the original aircraft (HL8363), which had a power failure in its engine. A total of 170 passengers were on board the flight.
Some passengers pointed out that the airline's announcements about the delays were insufficient. One passenger, who requested anonymity, said, "At first, I thought it was a consolidation delay, but there was no announcement until the intended departure time, which passed the boarding start time (6:35 p.m.), and when I went to the boarding gate, they were only preparing meal coupons without any announcements."
Passengers are said to have not received any information regarding compensation or the amount of compensation for the delays even four days after the incident. The Fair Trade Commission recommends compensating 20% of the fare for the delayed segment if an international flight is delayed for more than 4 hours and within 12 hours. A T'way Air official stated, "Compensation has been confirmed, and discussions about the amount are ongoing."
A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official stated, "Since the Jeju Air incident at Muan Airport, we have strengthened maintenance operations, which has slightly increased delays due to maintenance. Although the replacement flight was promptly deployed, we are checking to ensure there were no overall issues."
T'way Air apologized, stating, "We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to customers due to unexpected aircraft safety checks. We plan to proceed with compensation through relevant departments and will strive to ensure safe operations through continuous investment and management in safety."