Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korea Strengthens Safety Measures Around Runways at Domestic Airports

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korea announced measures to expand safety zones and improve facilities at airports following an accident involving a Jeju Air aircraft at Muan International Airport.

The ministry is considering undergrounding the foundations of localizers and replacing them with lightweight steel structures at 9 sites across 7 airports: Muan, Busan, Jeju, Gwangju, Yeosu, Pohang Gyeongju, and Sacheon. Specific measures will be implemented for each airport.

At seven airports—Muan, Busan, Yeosu, Pohang Gyeongju, Sacheon, Ulsan, and Wonju—where the recommended runway safety area of 240 meters is not met, efforts will be made to expand safety zones, and where expansion is difficult, safety measures such as the installation of Engineered Material Arresting Systems (EMAS) will be strengthened. Similar safety enhancements will be applied to newly planned airports like Gadukdo and Jeju.

Additionally, issues such as poor drainage, instances where the foundation height of meteorological observation devices slightly exceeded regulations, and aircraft approach light support structures not being fragile were identified.

The ministry aims to shorten the consultation period with relevant agencies as much as possible and consider factors such as project costs, construction feasibility, and safety to implement measures within the first half of the year for possible facilities. Even if not feasible, the aim is to complete within the year.

Until improvements to localizers are made, emergency safety operation measures will be paralleled to ensure operational safety, including sharing information with airlines, strengthening briefings, having veteran crew members on flight duty, and enhancing bird information communication.