Airline News
Japan safety investigators report “no abnormalities” found with Asiana A320
April 27th 2015
Following the crash-landing of the Asiana Airlines A320 at Hiroshima Airport last week, Koji Tsuji, chief accident investigator with the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB), said: “so far, we have judged there were no abnormalities in the aircraft.” Read More » The final report from the aircraft’s flight data and voice recorders is expected on Wednesday. Key findings so far include the fact visibility to the east of the airport deteriorated suddenly during the time Flight OZ162 from Incheon ran off the runway at around 8:05pm on April 14. Some aviation experts said the pilot may have been wrong to proceed to land amid the deteriorating weather.
The South Korean government has ordered Asiana Airlines to provide more training for its pilots after the carrier’s second accident in 24 months raised concerns about safety standards at the airline. South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Asiana would need to ensure training programs were carried out properly and augment simulator training for pilots who fly the A320. Asiana said it had “immediately set up a response team to cope with the aftermath of the crash” and had stepped up the “management and monitoring of safety procedures”. It will pay 5.4 million won ($5,000) as “temporary” compensation to each of the 75 passengers involved in the accident while it decides on an additional settlement when actual damage compensation is determined.
In other news, Asiana’s low-cost offshoot, Air Busan, has reported a 280% year-on-year profit increase to 17.5 billion won ($16.6 million) for the financial year ended December 31, 2014. Local rival, EastarJet, improved its bottom line by 473%, to 13.1 billion won, during the same period.
