Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc., the country’s two full-service carriers, transported masks, protective clothing, and fresh food using the cabin space of their passenger planes a total of 12 times during the period from April 10 to June 17. (image: Korean Air)
SEOUL, June 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Regulations are set to be loosened further to enable airlines to use passenger planes remaining idle due to the coronavirus outbreak to transport cargo more easily.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Thursday that it would ease the fire protection standards for passenger planes to make it easier for airlines to transport cargo through their idle passenger planes.
Prior to this announcement, the ministry issued guidelines on April 9 allowing passenger planes to transport cargo if a string of safety standards are met.
These guidelines came after the number of idle passenger planes shot up due to a plunge in air travel resulting from the coronavirus outbreak.
Previously, passenger airplanes were prohibited from transporting cargo primarily due to safety concerns such as fire hazards.
Under the new guidelines, however, the ministry has allowed passenger planes to transport cargo if fire resistant packaging is used and safety personnel are on board.
Thanks to the guidelines, Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc., the country’s two full-service carriers, transported masks, protective clothing, and fresh food using the cabin space of their passenger planes a total of 12 times during the period from April 10 to June 17.
Nonetheless, it was still not easy for the airlines to transport cargo via their idle passenger planes mainly due to the difficulty in meeting the fire resistant standard.
The airlines are facing a shortage of certified fire resistant bags needed to transport cargo on the empty seats of passenger planes.
Taking these difficulties into account, the ministry decided to allow the airlines to use simple boxes as long as they establish and issue plans to ensure safe flights.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
