Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
AirAsia blames bad weather for Incheon-bound flight's surprise Gimpo landing
Passengers express confusion after finding out their AirAsia flight D7 506, originally bound for Incheon International Airport from Kuala Lumpur, landed at Gimpo International Airport at 8:08 p.m., Wednesday. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
The AirAsia flight that caused passenger confusion by making an unexpected landing at Gimpo International Airport instead of its original destination of Incheon International Airport on Wednesday evening made a safety-based “planned diversion” due to adverse weather conditions, according to the airline.
Flight D7 506, which departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport earlier that day, had been scheduled to land at Incheon Airport. However, after circling over Korean airspace due to bad weather, the flight instead touched down at Gimpo at 8:08 p.m., about 20 kilometers away from Incheon, causing confusion and inconvenience.
Videos taken on board showed a crew announcement stating the aircraft was short on fuel, describing the landing at Gimpo as an emergency measure while the captain assessed the possibility of flying to Incheon.
However, several passengers later told local media that the crew failed to manage the confusion effectively during the two-hour delay, citing the lack of a clear announcement or apology in Korean about the landing. Even the cabin crew appeared “as confused as the passengers."
After remaining on the ground for about two hours, the aircraft departed Gimpo at 10:03 p.m. and landed at Incheon at 10:54 p.m. The Korea Airports Corp. confirmed that strong winds and heavy rain in Incheon's airspace caused air traffic delays, prompting the captain to divert for refueling.
In a statement released Thursday, AirAsia confirmed the diversion was a safety-based decision due to adverse weather conditions and air traffic congestion at Incheon.
“Safety is our highest priority,” the statement said. “The captain acted in full accordance with standard operating procedures, including keeping guests informed of the diversion initially in English."
The statement explained that "a miscommunication occurred in the cabin crew announcement upon landing, which the captain promptly clarified, confirming the diversion to Gimpo airport due to adverse weather and refuelling."
It went on to note that the captain also apologized to guests for the inconvenience, reassuring them that the landing at Gimpo was to refuel and that the aircraft would proceed to its original destination.
The airline will review its onboard communication procedures “to ensure greater clarity in such situations” and will offer travel vouchers to affected passengers.