SEOUL: A Jeju Air passenger jet that departed Gimpo Airport in Seoul for Jeju on Monday (Dec 30) experienced an unidentified landing-gear issue after takeoff and returned to the airport where it landed safely, Yonhap news reported, citing an unnamed source.
According to the South Korean news agency, Jeju Air Flight 7C101 detected the issue shortly after takeoff at about 6.30am (5.30am, Singapore time).
The 161 passengers onboard were informed by the airline about the mechanical defect and the flight returned to the airport at 7.25am.
“Jeju Air plans to resume operations after switching to a replacement aircraft,” reported Yonhap.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-800 – the same model as the one that crashed at Muan International Airport a day earlier.
On Sunday, the Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Thailand crash-landed, killing everyone aboard except two flight attendants who were pulled from the twisted wreckage.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216 landed on its belly and skidded off the runway, as smoke streamed out from the engines, before crashing into a wall and exploding into flames.
Officials have cited a bird strike as a likely cause of the crash, which flung passengers from the plane and left it “almost completely destroyed”, according to fire officials.
