"Jeju Airport Paralyzed Due to Strong Winds and Heavy Rain: 218 Flights Canceled"

About 140 flights operated, 216 flights ‘cancelled’…Tourists ‘Baldong-dong’

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The departure waiting room on the 3rd floor of Jeju International Airport is crowded with passengers trying to leave Jeju on the afternoon of the 5th. ⓒHeadline Jeju

Jeju International Airport, which had been paralyzed until the morning of the 5th, was gradually normalized as a special warning for strong wind and heavy rain took effect across Jeju Island for the second day.

According to Korea Airports Corporation Jeju Airport, the Jin Air flight LJ944 to Daegu, which was scheduled for 10:30 am, operated at 11:20 am, and the Asiana flight OZ8040 to Gimpo at 10:30 am departed past 1:00 pm. Scheduled flights are resuming operations.

As of 8:00 p.m. that day, 102 arrivals and 94 departures were operated, and passengers are boarding one after another for other flights. However, aircraft take-off and landing due to strong winds are repeatedly suspended and resumed. A series of delayed departures continue due to the connection of aircraft.

A total of 218 flights, 107 arrivals and 111 departures, have been canceled so far.

In addition, Jeju Airport is still in effect with a strong wind warning and a sudden change (wind shear) warning, and it is expected that aircraft operations will continue to be disrupted until night due to circumstances at airports in other regions.

In particular, between the night of the 5th and the early morning of the 6th, it is predicted that very strong rain of 30 to 50mm per hour (more than 50mm per hour in mountainous areas) will fall again centering on Jeju Island, so complete normalization is not expected to be achieved until the morning of the 6th.

Due to disruptions in aircraft operations that continued for the second day, tourists who were planning to tour Jeju on the occasion of the Children’s Day holiday are increasingly canceling their trips because they were unable to enter the country. Tourists trying to get out of Jeju are also stranded, causing congestion at the airport.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and each airline plan to increase and operate 37 flights, including 14 arrivals and 23 departures, to transport passengers staying at Jeju Airport.

Meanwhile, on the 4th, a total of 267 flights, 137 departures and 130 arrivals, were canceled due to the influence of strong winds that started in the afternoon.

As a result, about 10,000 people, including 6,000 students from 33 school field trip groups, were stranded. As 260 flights were canceled on the 54th alone, 10,000 people, including students on field trips and tourists, were stranded.

When flight operations resumed from noon on the 5th, 30,000 people, including 10,000 passengers staying the day before and those on the same day, gathered at once, and the departure check-in area on the 3rd floor of Jeju Airport was crowded. <헤드라인제주>