Back in July, the Government of South Korea banned an Airbus A330 that belongs to T'Way Air, a South Korean Low-Cost-Carrier. The government also fined T'Way 2 billion Won (approximately $1.5 million) for not following aviation safety rules.

Significant Delays Due to Aircraft Maintenance

Back in July 26th, the South Korean Government ordered a specific Airbus A330 to be banned from flying. The aircraft in question is an Airbus A330-300 registered as HL8501, which was operated by T'Way Air.

HL8501 had originally flown for Aeroflot, starting its career in 2009. It was registered as VQ-BCQ. The aircraft was briefly operated by Thai AirAsia X in 2020, and has been flying for T'Way Air since February 2022.

However, the aircraft was involved in numerous delays throughout its operation with the South Korean carrier. The worst case happened back in June 13th, when HL8501 was supposed to operate flight TW505 from Seoul (ICN) to Zagreb (ZAG). The A330 was having issues with its oil pump, so another A330 (registration HL8500) took its place presumably to avoid EU261 rules.

The problem was that HL8500 was supposed to operate flight TW283 to Osaka (KIX) at that time, so the troubled HL8501 was instead assigned to the Osaka flight. This led to Flight 283 being delayed by 4 hours, but the trouble didn't stop there.

After all 310 passengers had boarded, the Airbus was still on the ground for another 3 hours due to maintenance issues. That was when people started noticing strange odors of oil in the cabin, and one passenger even fainted due to fumes. 

Eventually, the passengers were let off the plane 7 hours after the original departure time. After another 3 hours of going through special security measures, 204 passengers finally gave up and went home 10 hours after the flight's scheduled departure time. The flight eventually departed around 11 PM, 11 hours behind schedule.

T'Way Air offered to pay each passenger 100,000 won (approximately $75), but this amount was not enough for those who had to take a taxi to Osaka City as rates usually go up to 136,000 won (approximately $101). Considering the fact that T'Way Air would have paid €600 per passenger if the flight to Zagreb was delayed, they had compensated passengers 12.5% of what the airline would have paid if the two A330s were not swapped. 

Following the incident, the airline made several statements that were criticized by the public. A spokesperson for T'Way Air said that the delay was due to Zagreb Airport's operating hours, but Zagreb Airport is actually open 24-hours a day. The airline also stated that maintenance was completed at around 6:45 PM, but was delayed due to passengers' demands to deboard the aircraft along with crew working hour problems.

However, a video that was filmed by a passenger shows that the pilot made an announcement at 6:57 PM informing that the plane still had issues with hydraulics. Other photos taken by passengers show the A330 undergoing some kind of maintenance job as late as 8:37 PM and 9:30 PM.

The returning flight, TW284, was delayed 11 hours due to the incident. Of the 322 passengers, four decided not to fly to Seoul that day. While the passengers were promised transportation fees at Osaka (as most passengers were unable to use public transportation upon late arrival), there were only private buses available as they arrived at Seoul.

This was not the only flight delay due to aircraft maintenance that T'Way experienced that week. In fact, the airline had to delay 5 flights for this reason in one week, one even being delayed by 20 hours. The delays are as follows:

TW184  Bangkok (BKK) to Seoul (ICN)     - 20 hours

TW283  Seoul (ICN) to Osaka (KIX)           - 11 hours

TW284  Osaka (KIX) to Seoul (ICN)           - 11 hours

TW171  Seoul (ICN) to Singapore (SIN)    - 1 hour

TW276  Kumamoto (KMJ) to Seoul (ICN) - 4 hours

Additionally, it was revealed that T'Way Air had experienced 993 delays due to aircraft malfunctions from 2020 to July 2024. The delays skyrocketed along with the recovering aviation market due to the COVID 19 pandemic. There were only 33 in 2020, 67 in 2021 and 68 in 2022, but in 2023 there were 510 delays, 8 times more than the previous year. In the first half of 2024, there were 315 delays reported.

After the incidents, on June 21st, The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport(국토교통부) ordered T'Way Air to carry out special maintenance procedures and enforce safety plans in July. However, this didn't stop the Airbus from getting banned from flying at the end of July.

HL8501 Gets Banned from Flying

HL8501 still caused delays in flight operations after the above incident. The aircraft was eventually banned from flying on June 26th.

T'Way Air was flying 5 A330s at the time. 3 were A330-300s, while 2 were A330-200s that were very recently leased from Korean Air as its part of the Korean Air-Asiana Airlines merger deal. As HL8501 was grounded, this left T'Way Air with only 4 widebody aircraft in its fleet.

Fortunately, HL8501 returned to service just 4 days later on July 30th, after undergoing maintenance.

Delays Continue

Despite the ban and subsequent maintenance, HL8501 was yet again involved in another delay due to aircraft maintenance last week on October 1st at Fukuoka Airport (FUK).

HL8501 was supposed to operate flight TW292 departing Fukuoka at 12:20 PM. However, HL8501 was unable to operate the flight due to an aircraft malfunction that required maintenance. An Airbus A330-200 registered as HL8211 was sent to Fukuoka to replace the flight, but upon landing at Fukuoka HL8211 was unable to pick up passengers due to Fukuoka Airport's system error.

While this was happening, T'Way Air Flight 295 which was also operated by an Airbus A330-200 (HL8212) landed at the airport. This flight was just operating normally and landed at Fukuoka on time. Thus, this probably marked the first time there were three T'Way Air A330s on the ground at a foreign airport.

Passengers were finally able to fly home more than 8 hours later and landed at Seoul at 8:43 PM. HL8501 was fixed and returned to Seoul the next day as a ferry flight. However, 2 days later on October 4th HL8501 was involved in another delay, the same flight from Seoul to Fukuoka as TW291 and TW292. Each flight was delayed roughly by an hour.

Other Incidents

Yet there are still other problems that the airline suffered regarding its A330s. On August 11th, a T'Way Air A330-300 (HL8502) flying from Singapore (SIN) to Seoul (ICN) experienced "landing gear problems", and was forced to return to Singapore an hour after takeoff.

On August 28th, T'Way Air flight TW402 flying from Paris (CDG) to Seoul (ICN) was canceled due to a hydraulic leak found in the Airbus A330-200 (HL8211). This was a notable incident as it was the first day of T'Way Air's flight operations to/from Paris. The flight took off 21 hours and 40 minutes behind schedule.

While not an A330, a T'Way flight operated with a Boeing 737-800 from Seoul (GMP) to Jeju (CJU) returned to Seoul 24 minutes after takeoff due to smoke in the cabin. Passengers were able to fly to Jeju 2 hours later, although 19 of the 158 passengers gave up the trip and did not board the replacement flight.

The government fined T'Way Air 5 million Won (approximately $1.5 million) following the incidents, citing improper maintenance/operations. Politician Lee Yeon-Hee of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee said,

“As T'Way Air is operating flights to Europe in place of Full-Service Carriers, the airline must show fundamental changes so that customers can trust their safety, which is the most important value.”

T'Way Air was originally a typical Low-Cost Carrier that operated domestic and short to mid-range international routes from South Korea. As the airline acquired Airbus A330s in recent years, they started expanding further such as Sydney and Bishkek. As part of the Korean Air-Asiana merger deal, the airline started operating to European destinations such as Paris, Rome, Barcelona, and Frankfurt in place of Korean Air and Asiana slots. It also received 5 A330-200s from Korean Air as part of the deal.

At the time of writing, HL8501 is currently flying from Sydney (SYD) to Seoul (ICN) as flight TW502, approaching Incheon International Airport. The aircraft is expected to land on time.