The New York Times (NYT), a leading U.S. newspaper, extensively reported at the end of last year on the 'concrete hump' on the runway at Muan International Airport that exacerbated the damage from the Jeju Air passenger plane disaster.
On the 5th (local time), NYT addressed the issue of the concrete mound at Muan International Airport in an investigative report that stated, 'Decades of accumulated mistakes erected a lethal wall at the end of Korea's runway.'
NYT secured and reviewed extensive data related to Muan International Airport over the past 26 years, including the original design blueprint, and consulted experts and bereaved families. A journalist specializing in investigative reporting based in Hong Kong was also involved in the reporting process.
NYT noted that the accident occurred due to various causes, including bird strikes, and stated, 'Given the presence of the solid wall at the end of the runway, it is believed that the scale of the disaster was exacerbated compared to a scenario without the wall.'
It further criticized that 'successive design and construction-related choices led to the presence of the concrete hazard adjacent to the runway' and remarked, 'Government regulatory authorities ignored warnings about safety, ultimately increasing the likelihood of any collision leading to disastrous outcomes.'
NYT focused on the circumstances under which the guidance system (localizer) at Muan International Airport's runway was built on the concrete mound at the time of the accident. Typically, localizers are installed to break easily upon aircraft collisions. NYT revealed that the 1999 initial design of Muan International Airport specified that the localizer should be designed to minimize lethal damage to aircraft in the event of a collision.
However, this design was altered in 2003. According to the revised design, the support structure for the localizer was changed to a robust concrete structure instead of a breakable one.
NYT stated that it remains unclear who made the changes to the design and why, but explained that the cost of concrete structures is cheaper compared to easily breakable wood and steel structures.
At that time, the design and construction of Muan International Airport were led by the Kumho Engineering & Construction consortium starting in 1999 under the order of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Seoul Regional Aviation Administration. Kumho Engineering & Construction did not respond to inquiries related to NYT.
Additionally, there are indications that the government had been aware of the 'localizer issue' at Muan International Airport for over a decade.
NYT confirmed that Korea Airports Corporation, the operator of Muan International Airport, conveyed concerns to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2007, six months before the airport opened, stating that 'the localizer is too close to the runway.' This implies that the localizer should be moved farther from the runway to comply with the safety regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
However, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport approved the opening of Muan International Airport as is. Although there was a condition to improve the localizer's position issue, the government did not mention this problem again in several audits afterward, according to NYT.
In 2020, NYT pointed out that it missed a crucial opportunity to rectify the 'concrete hump' issue.
Under the law, airport navigation systems must be restructured every 14 years. However, the contractor responsible for the design at that time proposed to enhance the strength by adding a concrete slab structure without dismantling the concrete mound.
As the government approved this structural change, a 2-meter (4 meters including the localizer) high concrete mound at the end of the runway at Muan International Airport was completed in February 2024, just 10 months before the disaster.
Lee Jun-hwa, a family member of the victim in the Jeju Air disaster who participated in the NYT investigation, pointed out the issue of the concrete mound and remarked, 'There must be a reason for the accident, but the reason for the death is separate.'