Eastar Jet Co. said it was investigating a misconduct case involving a cabin crew’s taking of personal photos on the wing of a company aircraft at a domestic airport. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean low-cost carrier (LCC) Eastar Jet Co. said Friday it was investigating a misconduct case involving a cabin crew’s taking of personal photos on the wing of a company aircraft at a domestic airport this week.
Several flight attendants of the airline were found to have taken personal photos after stepping out to the wing of a parked aircraft at Cheongju International Airport on Wednesday after opening the plane’s overwing emergency exit door.
At the time, heavy snow affected operations at the airport in Cheongju, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, leading to a series of flight cancellations.
Eastar Jet acknowledged that cabin crew members had stepped onto the wing to take photos.
“At the time, a maintenance technician was discussing the emergency exit door with the cabin crew, leading to a training session where they practiced opening the exit,” a company official explained.
The official stressed that the cabin crew members’ stepping onto the wing and taking photos was “clearly inappropriate behavior.”
“An investigation into the employees involved is currently under way, and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings,” the official added.
In addition, the airline plans to “reinforce strict training measures” across all departments to ensure that such incidents do not happen again, the official said.
The incident comes at a time when safety rule compliance by the LCC industry is being closely scrutinized, following a fatal Jeju Air Co. crash in December, the worst aviation disaster ever to occur on South Korean soil, and amajor fire incident aboard an Air Busan Co. aircraft last month.
In response to growing concerns, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced a plan last month to strengthen its oversight of LCCs and impose strict penalties on airlines failing to meet enhanced operational safety standards.
(Yonhap)
