Deadly crash in South Korea: are low-cost airlines more exposed to risk ?

This Sunday, December 29, 2024 in South Korea, the crash and fire of a plane carrying 181 people left several dozen dead. An investigation has been opened to determine the exact cause of the tragedy, which is believed to be due to a collision with birds.

A plane from the low-cost airline Jeju Air, coming from Bangkok (Thailand), crashed while landing this Sunday, December 29. Among the 181 passengers on board, only two survived.

According to The first reports from local firefighters, cited by BFMTV, the accident would have occurred after a collision with birds.

The two black boxes of the airliner have been found, a government official announced on Sunday. “As for the black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorders have now been recovered,” Vice Transport Minister Joo Jong-wan said at a news briefing.

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< h2 class="txt-int">Legal requirements

Are low-cost airlines taking safety risks to reduce ticket prices ? According to Jean Serrat, aeronautical consultant for BFMTV, this idea is unfounded.

“All pilots are trained on simulators. Most low-cost airlines have their pilots trained by companies like Air France. Pilot training is governed by laws and decrees”, he specifies.

These legal conditions, necessary to authorize takeoff, apply to all companies wishing to operate an aircraft.

Smaller fleets

To optimize their costs, low-cost airlines increase the number of their flights while having a reduced payroll. In addition, their aircraft are generally more modern than those of traditional airlines, which reduces maintenance costs.

Low-cost airline fleets are often smaller than those of large airlines. Jeju Air, for example, has around forty aircraft, mainly Boeing 737s. This limited number of aircraft makes it possible to reduce investments in diagnostic tools and to specialize maintenance technicians on a single aircraft model.

“A low incident rate”

In its annual ranking of the safest airlines, Airline Ratings highlights the reliability of low-cost airlines. “These airlines all have an excellent safety culture and a low incident rate”, underlines Geoffroy Thomas, editor-in-chief of Airline Ratings.

However, the safety of flights operated by low-cost airlines can be called into question because of the working conditions of their pilots, as reported several years ago by Le Figaro or again Franceinfo.

Airlines like Ryanair are accused of not respecting flight time limits pilots' flight, which can lead to fatigue and compromise flight safety.