Bangkok-Muan route, disaster on 12th flight

[Anchor]
Muan International Airport had a major accident less than a month after it began operating international flights every day.

In particular, it was found that Jeju Air's Bangkok-Muan route was the 12th operation.

I'm reporter Park Hee-jae.

[Reporter]
Muan Airport opened 17 years ago to replace the existing Mokpo Airport.

rise and fall afterwards Since the 2nd, we have been promoting expansion by starting international flights every day.

Jeju Air's routes between Bangkok and Muan, where the accident occurred, began operating on the 9th and operated four times every week on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

This was the 12th flight in the accident.

[Kim Yi-bae / CEO of Jeju Air: Since it was Muan Airport, most people live in Gwangju, Muan, and Jeonnam areas]

From Muan Airport, there are eight regular flights abroad, including this route, to Malaysia, following Japan, China, and Taiwan.
With the addition of
Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines, international flights were planned to expand more than twice as much next year.

In particular, a plan was pushed to increase the runway to 3,160 meters for the takeoff and landing of super-large passenger planes that can fly to Europe.

The runway length of Muan Airport is about 2,800m, Incheon Airport is up to 4,000m, Gimpo Airport is 3,600m, and Gimhae Airport is 3,200m.

However, the government drew a line on the possibility that the accident was directly related to the length of the runway.

[Joo Jong-wan / Director of Aviation Policy Division, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport] It is a similar-sized C-class aircraft that had an aircraft accident before that. This is the airport that has been operating continuously. It's hard to say that an accident occurred due to the length of the runway.

Muan International Airport, which experienced a recession due to COVID-19, recently showed an increase in utilization rate of more than 87%,
Overshadowing the description of being the only international hub airport in the southern region of
, some say that the accident has made the development outlook uncertain.

I'm Park Heejae of YTN.