Plane momentarily goes off course while touching down in Da Nang, sustains damages to tires

Passengers head toward the counter of Jeju Air at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, Dec. 30, 2024. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)
Passengers head toward the counter of Jeju Air at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, Dec. 30, 2024. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)

Jeju Air, under public scrutiny after the deadly crash of Flight 2216 that killed 179 late last year, had another scare recently when one of its planes experienced minor difficulties while landing at Da Nang International Airport in Vietnam, according to local news reports Thursday.

Jeju Air Flight 2217 from Incheon veered off course for a moment while landing at the airport in Vietnam at around 12:50 a.m. on Wednesday. The aircraft carrying 183 passengers immediately returned to course and no one was injured, but the tires on the landing gear were damaged in the process.

The airline replaced the tires in Da Nang and deployed a replacement plane of the same type — Boeing 737-800 — for the return flight. The return flight took off at 4:08 p.m. the same day from Da Nang International Airport, 14 hours and 38 minutes later than the initially scheduled time.

Jeju Air's fleet mostly comprises Boeing 737-800 planes, which was also the model of the ill-fated Flight 2216.

Officials of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport are conducting an investigation to determine the exact cause of the incident.

Jeju Air, one of the leading budget carriers in Korea, suffered a major blow when Flight 2216 belly-landed at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province on Dec. 29, 2024. The plane overshot the runway and crashed into a berm encasing a concrete structure, leading to an explosion that killed all of those onboard except two crew members in the back.

The Transportation Ministry has confirmed a bird strike on at least one of the engines, but the exact details of the accident remain under probe.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com