Court orders Korean Air to pay fine for signal light error

Seoul Administrative Court has upheld a KRW300 million won (USD268,000) fine that South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport slapped on Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) for damaging two signal lights at Japan’s Fukuoka Airport. While taxiing to take off from Fukuoka for a flight to Busan at around 2000L on December 31, 2018, a Korean Air aircraft carrying 177 passengers ran against the edge of the tarmac, damaging two blue lights used to guide the track. The ministry imposed the fine in October 2019, but Korean Air subsequently filed a lawsuit claiming it was merely “a minor incident that did not affect the safety of the aircraft at all.” The airline claimed that it did not constitute an “accident” under the Aviation Safety Act as most of the signal lights on the taxiway were not lit, making it impossible for the pilot and co-pilot to notice them. However, the court ruled that “it was obviously caused by the negligence of the crew.” The accident occurred, it said, because the pilot and co-pilot were confused about the signal lights on the centerline and on the edge. This was due to their alleged failure to pay attention to the airport’s Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) which showed that the centerline lighting of the taxiway had been partially disabled. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Korean Air currently operates three direct passenger routes to Japan, but none to Fukuoka. It links Seoul Incheon with Tokyo Narita (7x weekly), Osaka Kansai (2x weekly), and Nagoya Chubu (1x weekly). All of these are operated with the carrier’s A330-300 aircraft. Korean Air was not immediately available for comment.