Korean Air Passenger Plane Delayed Two Days in a Row Due to 'Door Slide Malfunction'

Ministry of Land Starts Investigation
Korean Air "Will Identify Cause and Prevent Recurrence"

Flight delays due to door slide malfunctions on Korean Air passenger planes continued for the second day.

In May, aviation maintenance personnel were working at the Korean Air headquarters maintenance hangar in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, during an event introducing Korean Air's safe flight facilities and safety management system.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the aviation industry on the 3rd, the left front emergency exit slide of Korean Air flight KE1131 (A321neo), which departed from Gimpo Airport and arrived at Jeju Airport around 3:30 p.m. that day, suddenly deployed. It was reported that this occurred during the process of the aircraft docking at the boarding bridge.

At the time, the 144 passengers and crew members on board were able to disembark without major issues using the stairs.

Due to the door slide issue, the subsequent flight KE1264 from Jeju to Gimpo underwent an aircraft replacement, and this flight took off around 5:10 p.m., about an hour later than originally scheduled.

The previous day, the door of Korean Air flight KE755 (A220-300) bound for Okinawa, Japan, from Incheon Airport opened and the slide deployed, and a door slide inspection message appeared on the system of Korean Air flight KE017 (A380-800) bound for Los Angeles (LA), USA. The departures of these flights were delayed by 4 to 5 hours compared to the schedule.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is investigating the slide issues that occurred for two consecutive days, keeping various possibilities open, including crew operation errors and aircraft malfunctions.

Korean Air stated, "We will actively cooperate with the relevant authorities' investigation" and "We will identify the cause and prepare measures to prevent recurrence."