Jeju Air recorded the longest aircraft operating hours among domestic airlines as of the third quarter of last year. It sharply cut aircraft operating hours to prevent major accidents like the Jeju Air Flight 2116 disaster at Muan Airport in South Jeolla at the end of 2024, but as other airlines also reduced their operating hours, it still remained the carrier turning the most flights.
According to the aviation industry on the 2nd, the monthly average aircraft operating hours of major domestic airlines as of the third quarter of last year came to an average of 364 hours based on block time. Block time refers to the time from when an aircraft begins to move for takeoff until it lands at its destination and comes to a stop.
Long aircraft operating hours are directly linked to airframe fatigue and are often cited as one of the causes of accidents. For this reason, Jeju Air released that immediately after the Muan Airport disaster it would reduce aircraft utilization from a daily average of 14 hours (a monthly average of 420 hours) to 12.8 hours (a monthly average of 384 hours) or less.
Jeju Air reduced its aircraft operating hours in the third quarter of last year to 376 hours, down 10.5% from a year earlier, the largest decline among major domestic airlines. This reduction came as, over the same period, the number of flights operated by Korean-flag carriers increased 0.1% to 532,881 and the number of passengers rose 1.1% to 113.75 million.
However, as other airlines also cut operating hours to strengthen safety measures, Jeju Air still remained the company with the longest aircraft operating hours. Following Jeju Air, AIR BUSAN had the second-longest at 371 hours, followed by JIN AIR (370 hours), T'way Air (368 hours), Korean Air (367 hours), and Asiana Airlines (362 hours).
In terms of year-over-year reductions in aircraft operating hours, T'way Air ranked second after Jeju Air at 7%. JIN AIR and Korean Air fell 1.3% and 0.8%, respectively. Over the same period, AIR BUSAN and Asiana Airlines increased operating hours by 4.7% and 5.8%, respectively.
Since the disaster, Jeju Air has also released operating hours based on flight hours, recording 313 hours in the third quarter of last year, down 11.3% from a year earlier. However, that is about 93 hours longer than the average flight time of 230 hours for major U.S. airlines released by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
Jeju Air's monthly average operating hours are high even compared with airlines' average aircraft age. Typically, the higher the aircraft age, the more time is invested in maintenance, so flight hours tend to be shorter.
AIR BUSAN (10.5 years), Korean Air (11.4 years), and Asiana Airlines (12.7 years) have a shorter average fleet age than Jeju Air, whose average is 12.8 years. JIN AIR (13.7 years) and T'way Air (14 years) have an older average fleet age than Jeju Air, but their operating hours are still shorter.
Experts say it will be difficult for Jeju Air, as well as other airlines, to further reduce aircraft operating hours because they must maintain profitability. Lee Hwi-young, a professor in the Department of Aviation Management at Inha Technical College, said, "Airlines ultimately need to secure profitability to invest more in safety, and if they reduce operating hours further than now, it is hard to guarantee that airlines will be able to generate revenue."
Meanwhile, Jeju Air said it is also increasing investment in fleet modernization and strengthening maintenance capabilities along with reducing aircraft operating hours. This year it expanded its maintenance workforce to about 350, up by more than 40 from the end of the previous year, meeting the standards set by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Through November last year, Jeju Air's maintenance delay rate was 0.52%, down 0.37 percentage point from a year earlier. Over the same period, its on-time performance rose 6.4 percentage points to 77.2%.
A Jeju Air official said, "This year we will invest 126.7 billion won in maintenance, repair and overhaul, and spend 4.2 billion won on the purchase and upkeep of maintenance facilities and equipment," adding, "We will continue to expand safety-related investment."