Jeju Air Flight 7C101, which departed from Gimpo International Airport to Jeju at 6:37 a.m. on December 30 (local time), discovered a problem with its landing gear shortly after takeoff, according to Yonhap.
The airline informed 161 passengers about the incident and then returned to Gimpo at 7:25 a.m. the same day.
Jeju Air plans to continue flight 7C101 after changing aircraft.
Landing gear is an important device directly related to flight safety, ensuring safe take-off and landing operations while minimizing impacts from the external environment in emergency landing cases.
In the Jeju Air crash on December 29 that killed 179 people, the cause is believed to be that all three landing gears failed to operate properly.
The plane that had to make an emergency landing on the morning of December 30 in Gimpo was a Boeing B737-800, the same model as the plane that crashed the day before in Muan.
Jeju Air operates 39 of this model out of its total 41 aircraft.
The Jeju Air crash on December 29, 2024 at Muan International Airport was one of the worst aviation disasters in South Korea's history. Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, departing from Bangkok, Thailand, had trouble landing, skidding off the runway and crashing into a concrete barrier.
The crash killed 179 of the 181 people on board, with only two crew members surviving.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but it is reported that a fire broke out on the plane before it landed1. More than 490 firefighters, 455 police officers and 340 military personnel were mobilized to rescue and handle the scene.
Jeju Air's CEO apologized and expressed his deep condolences to the victims' families.
