South Korea's Jeju Air flight 7C101 from Seoul Gimpo to Jeju that day temporarily turned back shortly after takeoff due to a landing gear failure. Yonhap News Agency reported on the 30th that Jeju Air issued a statement on the same day to apologize for the incident, saying that "returning to the flight is a necessary measure to ensure safe operations" and "deeply apologizes for the inconvenience caused to passengers."
According to the report, Jeju Air also stated that it plans to provide full refunds to passengers who voluntarily disembark and pay delay compensation.
On the morning of the 30th, a Boeing 737 passenger plane operated by South Korea's Jeju Airlines turned back shortly after takeoff and landed safely at Gimpo Airport in South Korea due to an abnormality in the landing gear. It is reported that the aircraft used in the flight that day was also a Boeing 737-800, which was the same model as the aircraft that crashed at Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea the day before.
South Korea's "Central Daily News" said that since its launch in 1997, the global sales of the 737-800 have exceeded 5,000, accounting for nearly half of the total sales of Boeing 737. Relevant data shows that there are currently 101 737-800 aircraft in operation in South Korea, mainly concentrated on low-cost airlines. People in the aviation industry said, "As the 737-800 is one of the most popular aircraft models, we need to be cautious when evaluating the possibility of airframe defects."
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced on December 30, local time, that it would conduct a comprehensive special inspection of the 101 existing Boeing 737-800 passenger aircraft in South Korea.