3 Korean Air Aircraft Experience Slide Issues in 2 Days

In the past two days, three Korean Air aircraft experienced slide issues, including two slide deployments of parked aircraft. Since the incidents, Korean Air confirmed that two of them were due to crew error.

First Incident: A220 Flight from Seoul (ICN) to Okinawa (OKA)

The first incident occurred on September 2nd at Incheon International Airport, on an A220 with 71 passengers on board that was ready to depart for Okinawa as Flight KE755. The flight, with a scheduled departure time of 9:10 AM (KST), was delayed due to an accidental slide deployment. It is not known what the registration of the A220 is, but sources suggest that the aircraft in question is HL8091.

The flight departed later with an equipment change, a Boeing 737-900 registered as HL8248. The flight departed 4 hours and 29 minutes later at 13:39 local time, arriving at Okinawa at 15:24 (JST), 3 hours and 44 minutes behind schedule.

In a Korean news report, Korean Air acknowledged and confirmed that the incident was due to crew error. The emergency slide in an aircraft door must be disarmed before opening it; however, a crew member accidentally opened the door before disarming the slide.

While not officially confirmed as the incident aircraft, HL8091 did not operate its usual Seoul (ICN) to Okinawa (OKA) route that day. It did, however, operate the scheduled Daegu (TAE) later that evening, departing on time at 19:35 (KST).

Second Incident: A380 Flight from Seoul (ICN) to Los Angeles (LAX)

The second incident also occurred on September 2nd at Incheon International Airport, on an A380 that was scheduled for a flight to Los Angeles as Flight KE17. The flight was supposed to depart at 14:30 local time, but was delayed due to a warning sign regarding one of the emergency slides. It was later confirmed that one of the parts of the emergency slide was faulty.

The registration of the A380 involved is currently unknown.

The flight departed later after being delayed for 6 hours and 32 minutes, taking off at 21:02. The A380 landed safely in Los Angeles at 15:39 local time, 5 hours and 29 minutes behind schedule. The aircraft that operated the flight was an A380-800 registered as HL7628.

Third Incident: A321neo Flight from Seoul (GMP) to Jeju (CJU)

The third incident happened the next day on September 3rd at Jeju International Airport, on an A321neo that just arrived from Gimpo International Airport as Flight KE1131. This domestic flight, with 144 passengers on board, arrived on time at 15:25 local time without incident. However as the aircraft was connecting to a jet bridge to disembark passengers, a crew member accidentally opened the door while the emergency slide was armed, just like the case on the A220 the day before.

The aircraft involved in this incident is an Airbus A321neo registered as HL8556. It was 10 months old at the time of the incident.

Due to this incident, the return flight (KE1264) that was supposed to be operated by this A321neo was delayed around 1 hour. The flight was operated with another A321neo, HL8557.

The aircraft was ferried back to Seoul (GMP) 4 hours later. It returned to service the next day, operating flight 1803 from Seoul (GMP) to Busan (PUS).

In response to the incidents, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (국토교통부) requested to all Korean carriers that flight attendants better attend their jobs and to get retrained.