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A Jeju Air plane was forced to return to Seoul on Monday due to landing gear malfunction.
This comes a day after a Jeju Air passenger plane with 180 persons aboard burst into flames on the ground early Sunday morning in South Korea.
The plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that was returning from Bangkok in Thailand.
The plane had skid off the runway before ramming into a concrete fence when its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy.
At least 179 passengers have so far been confirmed dead from the crash.
On Monday morning, a Jeju Air Flight 7C101 departed Gimpo Airport, Seoul, for Jeju International Airport, but experienced landing gear difficulties.
The pilots immediately informed the 161 passengers on board of the snafu.
The plane circled and eventually returned to Gimpo Airport 40 minutes after take-off.
The aircraft used for the flight is reportedly a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 — the same type of aircraft involved in Sunday’s accident.
A Jeju Air official said the retreat was a precautionary measure.
He added that “we will provide a full refund to passengers who voluntarily got off the plane, and we will pay compensation for the delay to passengers who boarded the plane”.
About 21 passengers reportedly gave up boarding over safety concerns.
The airline transferred the remaining passengers to a replacement flight of the same model and departed for Jeju at 8:30am.
Pascal Arogorn Ibe
