South Korea is considered among the safest countries for air travel in recent times, with experts saying it has an excellent record with maintenance, repair and overhaul.
Jeju Air is South Korea’s largest low-cost carrier, operating about 40 planes, most of them 737-800s.
The crash on Sunday was the airline’s first fatal accident since it was founded in 2005.
The doomed jet was about 15 years old, and was previously flown by Ryanair until 2017, when it was transferred to Jeju Air.
It was arriving from Thailand’s capital Bangkok and was reportedly in good mechanical conditions, said analysts.
INVESTIGATIONS BEGIN
South Korea’s aviation authority is investigating the crash, assisted by America’s National Transportation Safety Board, FAA and Boeing.
The flight and voice recorders from the plane have been recovered, and will shed light on its final moments. However, Yonhap reported that the flight recorder was retrieved partially damaged, which will complicate the investigation process.
A flight recorder tracks an aircraft’s performance and condition, while the cockpit voice recorder will reveal communications between the pilots in the cockpit and the ground.
Analysts said multiple questions remain, including whether technical issues encountered on the plane two days before the incident had anything to do with its ultimate demise.
Last Friday, the plane was on a routine flight from Jeju to Beijing when it was diverted to Incheon, South Korea’s main airport. The flight later continued to the Chinese capital.
Experts said it will take investigators at least several weeks to decode the recorders and fully analyse the information.
“There are a lot of questions which we need to find the answers to, and we really have to look at the data … to find the exact cause of the crash and issue recommendations to prevent similar incidents,” Lie said.
