Gov't denies that presidential visit caused delays for 512 flights to and from Jeju

More than 1,700 passengers were forced to land at Incheon International Airport instead of their intended destinations after widespread flight delays at Jeju International Airport on Friday, the same day that President Lee Jae Myung traveled to the island to attend the opening ceremony of the National Sports Festival. This has raised questions over the cause of the disruptions, despite the government’s denial that the president’s flight on the presidential aircraft was connected.

Of the 512 flights scheduled to depart from or arrive at Jeju International Airport that day, 237, or 46.3 percent, were delayed, according to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Airports Corporation to Rep. Kim Jong-yang of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, on Wednesday.

The delays affected 123 of the 257 departing flights and 114 of the 255 arriving ones.

Among them, 10 flights carrying a combined 1,759 passengers were diverted to Incheon International Airport instead of their original destinations. Nine of the 10 flights carried 1,604 passengers and were bound for Gimpo International Airport; the remaining one carried 155 passengers and was bound for Gimhae International Airport.

The delays prevented the 10 flights from landing at Gimpo or Gimhae before the airports’ 11 p.m. curfew, with operations resuming at 6 a.m.

One such flight, Air Busan BX8138, was scheduled to depart for Gimhae at 7:55 p.m. but did not take off until 10:39 p.m., a delay of 161 minutes. 

At 10:27 p.m., shortly before takeoff, the airline requested Gimhae to extend its curfew, but the airport denied the request because it did not meet the approval criteria, which require at least three delayed aircraft or 500 stranded passengers. 

The flight’s 155 passengers, who were originally scheduled to arrive at Gimhae at 8:55 p.m., instead landed late at night at Incheon International Airport, approximately 420 kilometers (261 miles) away by car.

Flight operation records submitted by the Korea Airports Corporation listed the reason for BX8138’s delay as “security reasons.” However, the records did not specify what those security reasons were or whether they were related to the presidential aircraft’s operation.

The Transport Ministry said that it had received “no requests from airlines that day to extend [airports’] nighttime operating hours.”

The Korea Airports Corporation also said that it had made no special operational arrangements in relation to the National Sports Festival’s opening ceremony. 

In a statement issued on Monday, the ministry attributed the widespread delays largely to the high volume of flights operating on Friday.

However, Jeju Airport recorded far fewer delays on two other days when it handled even more flights.

On Oct. 9, only 77 of 520 flights, or 14.8 percent, were delayed. On Oct. 2, 135 of 514 flights, or 26.3 percent, experienced delays.

“Flight delays began at Jeju International Airport at around 9 a.m. [on Friday],” the ministry added.

Flight data shows that disruptions intensified sharply in the afternoon. Between 6 a.m. and noon, 22 of 174 flights were delayed — a rate of 12.6 percent. Between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m., however, 178 of 241 flights, or 73.9 percent, experienced delays.

Of the 35 flights delayed by more than an hour, 34 were scheduled after 3 p.m.

These figures imply that delays had already reached a high level by 3 p.m., well before the presidential aircraft began waiting for takeoff, and continued late into the night.

According to air traffic flow management records, aircraft were also required to maintain a separation of 20 nautical miles, or 37 kilometers, during two periods that day: from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Under international aviation standards, the minimum separation between aircraft under radar control is generally 3 to 5 nautical miles.

The restrictions, which lasted a combined 270 minutes, were attributed entirely to “traffic congestion.”

The Transport Ministry denied that the presidential aircraft’s departure preparations disrupted civilian flights.

“Civilian aircraft were not restricted while the presidential aircraft was waiting to take off,” the ministry said. “It is incorrect to claim that the presidential aircraft […] caused the cascade of [disruptions].”

“Between 7:50 p.m., when the presidential aircraft began waiting for takeoff, and its actual departure time of 9:22 p.m., 45 civilian aircraft took off or landed,” the ministry added. “Even after 8:30 p.m., when the [presidential aircraft’s] waiting period was originally scheduled to end, 24 civilian aircraft took off or landed.”

The ministry also said that air traffic was restricted for only about 10 minutes to accommodate the presidential aircraft’s departure.

Nevertheless, it acknowledged shortcomings in its preparations for the increased air traffic associated with the major event.

“We apologize for the inconvenience caused to the public because we failed to adequately prepare for the increase in air traffic associated with a major event,” the ministry said.

Rep. Kim called on the government to disclose the precise causes of the delays and explain why it had not made special operational arrangements beforehand.

“Takeoffs and landings at Jeju International Airport came to a halt around the time the presidential aircraft took off and landed, and ordinary citizens ended up arriving at the wrong airport in the middle of the night,” he said.

“The government must fully disclose what lay behind the words ‘security reasons’ and why there was not a single special operational plan in place for a major event that had been scheduled well in advance.”

BY KIM JUN-YOUNG [[email protected]]