Korean airlines were found to have been hit with more than 10 billion won in penalty surcharges over the past five years for violating regulations.
According to the "penalty surcharge dispositions for flag carriers" submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the office of Rep. Moon Jin-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee, on the 22nd, six airlines received 10.093 billion won in penalty surcharges from 2021 through last year for violating the Aviation Safety Act and other rules. The number of violations was 28.
By airline, T'way Air (4.944 billion won, nine cases) was assessed the most penalty surcharges. In May last year, T'way Air installed a hydraulic filter prohibited from reuse on an A330-300 aircraft and skipped hydraulic fluid sampling and component testing, resulting in a 1.605 billion won penalty surcharge. This is the largest penalty surcharge imposed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) in the past five years for a violation of the Aviation Safety Act.
Jeju Air followed with 2.398 billion won (five cases) in penalty surcharges. Jeju Air was required to perform pre-/post-flight inspections (PR/PO) within 48 hours but performed the work beyond that time on two B737-800 aircraft. In addition, when an engine defect occurred on the same aircraft type, it failed to respond appropriately and was fined a penalty surcharge of 800 million won in May last year.
In addition, Korean Air Lines received 1.453 billion won (nine cases), Jin Air 1.339 billion won (two cases), Asiana 154 million won (two cases), and AIR BUSAN 5 million won in penalty surcharges.