The low-cost carrier told AFP on Monday it was facing a wave of cancellations, after 179 people were killed on Jeju Air Flight 2216 in South Korea’s worst plane crash.
In the crash in Muan on Sunday, a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea crashed before hitting a barrier and bursting into flames.
Everyone on board the plane was killed except two flight attendants who were pulled from the wreckage.
“From midnight last day (Sunday) to 1:00 a.m. today (0400 GMT Monday), the number of canceled flight tickets was about 68,000,” a Jeju Air official told AFP.
The company said around 33,000 domestic flights were cancelled, while the number of international flight cancellations stood at around 34,000.
However, there is still an influx of new bookings, the company said.
“Given the current situation, the cancellation rate is slightly higher than usual. However, the flow of new bookings remains steady,” Song Kyung-hoon, head of Jeju Air’s management support office, said at a press conference.
Major travel agencies were also reporting mass trip cancellations due to accident-related travel anxiety.
“We received at least 400 cancellations in the first hour of our opening,” the travel agency, one of the country’s largest, told AFP.
“Many people are also asking whether their plane is a Boeing 737-800, and if so, whether they want to cancel,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On Monday, a Jeju Air flight from Seoul was forced to turn back after experiencing a landing gear problem — the plane involved in the latest incident was the same Boeing 737-800, Yonhap reported.
Local media reported that 21 passengers decided not to board an alternative flight after the plane landed, citing safety concerns and other reasons.
Jeju Air shares fell 15 percent on Monday.
Shares of AK Holdings Inc., Jeju Air’s largest stakeholder, also fell more than 12 percent.
Shares of many domestic tour agencies fell more than five percent.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
