NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
The seven daily flights from South Korea remain unaffected despite the recent crash of a Jeju Air plane and the escalating political turmoil in South Korea.
Manager Anghelo Ybañez of the Bohol Panglao International Airport (BPIA) told the Chronicle yesterday that the local airport did not receive any notice on the reduction nor cancelation of flights from South Korea.
Each of the seven flights bring some 150 to 180 passengers or about 1,050 passengers every day.
The statement of the BPIA manager came after there were reports that all flights using 737 Boeing planes will be grounded following last week’s accident involving a B737 plane of Jeju Air from Bangkok when it landed at the Muan Internaional Airport last week.
A check made by the Chronicle revealed that the plane which figured in the accident flew to Panglao airport last Dec. 18, or 11 days before it figured in that tragic accident which became the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft and the deadliest aviation accident since the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610 (which had 189 fatalities).
The accident marked the deadliest aviation disaster involving a South Korean airliner since the 1997 crash of Korean Air Flight 801 in Guam (which had 229 fatalities) and became the deadliest aviation incident on South Korean soil, surpassing the 2002 crash of Air China Flight 129 that killed 129 people. This was the first fatal crash in the history of Jeju Air, which was 19 years old at the time of the accident.
It was learned that Jeju Air bringing no less than 170 passengers everyday to Bohol are using 737 Boeing planes.
Jin Air which also flies to Panglao are also using B737 planes, aside from the B737Max planes.
Air Busan which also flies daily flights from South Korea is using A321 planes and A32Neo planes.
Royal Air which used to fly to Bohol is using A319 and A320.
DEADLIEST B737 CRASH
Jeju Air Flight 2216 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Jeju Air from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan International Airport in Muan County, South Korea. On 29 December 2024, the Boeing 737-800 operating the flight had a bird ingest into one of the engines, issued a mayday alert, performed a go-around, and on its second landing attempt, failed to deploy its landing gear and belly landed well beyond the normal touchdown zone. It overran the runway and crashed into a berm encasing a concrete structure that supported an antenna array for the instrument landing system. The collision killed all 175 passengers and 4 of 6 crew members.
The surviving 2 cabin crew were seated in the rear of the plane, which detached from the fuselage, and were rescued with injuries.
