[무안 제주항공 여객기 참사]
Overseas maintenance costs increase by 64% in 4 years
Only two locations, Korean Air and CAMS, are capable of major maintenance.
“Government provides support for securing heavy maintenance technology”
With the Jeju Air plane disaster in Muan, Jeollanam-do, the problem of poor maintenance at domestic low-cost carriers (LCCs) has come to the fore, and it has been revealed that most LCCs are outsourcing heavy maintenance, such as engine repairs, to overseas companies. There are voices calling for the government to step forward and support the development of the aviation maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) industry so that LCCs can develop their own maintenance capabilities.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 2nd, overseas maintenance costs for LCCs increased by 63.6% from 307.2 billion won in 2019 to 502.7 billion won in 2023. During the same period, the proportion of overseas maintenance also increased from 62.2% to 71.1%. When a major defect occurs in an aircraft, 7 out of 10 cases are sent overseas. This is believed to be because the LCC did not have its own heavy maintenance capabilities.
In Korea, only Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, which are large airlines (FSC), have hangars and MRO capabilities to repair major aircraft defects such as engine failure. LCCs that do not have such capabilities must outsource to domestic and foreign companies. Since Korean Air and Korea Air Service (KAEMS) are the only MRO companies in Korea, repairs are outsourced overseas.
It is pointed out that government-level support is needed to help LCCs develop their own heavy maintenance capabilities and to help the domestic MRO industry grow. Lee Hwi-young, a professor of aviation management at Inha Airways, said, “Aviation maintenance is an issue directly related to public safety,” and added, “The government must step in and provide support from the aircraft purchase stage so that domestic airlines can gain trust from aircraft manufacturers and secure the original technology needed for heavy maintenance.” “We do it,” he emphasized.
Meanwhile, the number of ‘autonomous aviation safety reports’, in which aviation industry workers such as captains and mechanics discover or suspect aviation safety risk factors and report them to the relevant authorities, has also been found to have increased rapidly over the past five years. The number of autonomous aviation safety reports received by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority increased from 163 in 2019 to 302 in 2023. In particular, maintenance-related reports increased six-fold in one year, from 10 in 2022 to 63 in 2023.
Reporter Jong-ho Han [email protected]
Reporter Lee Seok-bok [email protected]
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