South Korean police said they raided Muan airport and the Jeju Air office Thursday morning over the crash involving one of the carrier's Boeing 737-800s that killed 179 people. Jeju Air flight 2216 was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea on Sunday when it issued a mayday call and belly-landed before hitting a barrier and bursting into flames, killing everyone aboard except two flight attendants pulled from the burning wreckage. South Korean and US investigators, including from Boeing, have been combing the crash site in southwestern Muan since the disaster to establish a cause, with both black boxes found and decoding work ongoing. "In relation to the plane accident that occurred on December 29, a search and seizure operation is being conducted from 9 am (0000 GMT) on January 2 at three locations," including Muan airport, the Jeju Air office in Seoul, plus a regional aviation office, police said in a statement sent to AFP. "The police plan to swiftly and rigorously determine the cause and responsibility for this accident in accordance with the law and principles." After the crash, South Korea announced that all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country's carriers would be subject to special inspections, focusing on the landing gear, which appears to have malfunctioned during the Sunday crash. South Korea's acting president, Choi Sang-mok, said Thursday that "immediate action" must be taken if that probe uncovered any issues with the aircraft model. Authorities have previously said that 101 aircraft of the same model were in operation by six different airlines. "As there's great public concern about the same aircraft model involved in the accident, the transport ministry and relevant agencies must conduct a thorough inspection of operation maintenance, education, and training," Choi said Thursday.<br/>
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South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok said on Thursday immediate action must be taken if a special inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated in the country finds any issues as authorities ramp up a probe into Sunday's deadly air crash. The conversion of data from the Jeju Air 7C2216 cockpit voice recorder to audio file should be completed by Friday, Choi told a disaster management meeting, which could provide critical information on the final minutes of the doomed flight. All 175 passengers and four of six crew members were killed on Sunday when the Jeju Air jet belly-landed at Muan International Airport in the country's southwest and slammed into an earth-and-concrete embankment, bursting into flames. Two crew members, located near the tail of the Boeing 737-800, survived. "As there's great public concern about the same aircraft model involved in the accident, the transport ministry and relevant organisations must conduct a thorough inspection of operation maintenance, education, and training," Choi said. Choi's comments at the start of the meeting were provided by his office. Questions by air safety experts on what led to the deadly explosion have focused on the embankment designed to prop up navigation equipment that they said may have been built too close to the end of the runway. The aircraft's flight data recorder, which sustained some damage, is being taken to the United States for analysis in cooperation with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).<br/>
Grieving relatives of the victims of the South Korea plane crash gathered at the site to pay respects to their loved ones on New Year’s Day, as officials said they’ve extracted data from one of the retrieved black boxes to find the exact cause of the crash. All but two of the 181 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air died when it crashed at Muan International Airport, in southern South Korea, on Sunday. Video showed the aircraft without its landing gear deployed landing on its belly at high speed and then skidding off the end of the runaway into a concrete fence and bursting into flames. The footage showed the plane was experiencing an apparent engine problem in addition to the landing gear malfunction. Investigators say the pilot received a warning from air traffic controllers of possible bird strikes and the plane issued a distress signal before the crash. The Transport Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that it has completed works to extract data from the cockpit voice recorder — one of the two black boxes recovered from the wreckage. It said the data would be converted into audio files. A damaged flight data recorder will be sent to the United States for an analysis, the ministry added. All of the victims were South Korean, except for two Thais nationals, with many returning from Bangkok after Christmas holidays. The bereaved families visited the site on Wednesday for the first time since the crash for an emotional memorial service. They were bused to the site where they took turns laying white flowers. Many knelt and bowed deeply before a memorial table laid with food, including “ddeokguk,” a Korean rice cake soup eaten on New Year’s Day. The Transport Ministry said authorities have completed the complicated process of identifying all 179 victims. It said the government has so far handed over 11 bodies to relatives.<br/>
Israel's national carrier, El Al, concluded a special air miles offer for military reservists on Wednesday after overwhelming demand. Over two days, the airline distributed 1.8b air miles to 81,000 reservists, covering 18m days of service. The offer, which granted 100 frequent flyer points for each day served, was available to reservists called up for more than 100 days of duty.<br/>
SpiceJet wants to reboot a dormant B737 MAX order, according to Managing Director Ajay Singh. The carrier simultaneously faces a new lessor dispute after lawyers for Spectre Air Capital have accused it of theft by removing engines from leased B737-700(BDSF)s. Speaking at the airline's annual general meeting on December 30, 2024, Singh said it was important for SpiceJet to rebuild its capacity to compete against bigger carriers and provide consumers with choices in the Indian market. “We will restart our talks with Boeing. We received thirteen [B737-8 aircraft], and we will talk with the company to restart deliveries. Hopefully, we can do this in the upcoming months," Singh said. In early 2017, the Indian low-cost carrier placed a firm order with the manufacturer for 100 B737-8s with options for 50 more directly. Including two earlier contracts, the carrier's commitment for the type reached 155 units. However, SpiceJet only took delivery of 13 before financial difficulties forced the airline to stop deliveries. However, it returned six of these aircraft to the lessors (SMBC Aviation Capital, Avolon, and CDB Aviation) in 2023 and 2024. The aircraft were later redelivered to Enter Air and SmartLynx Airlines Malta, the ch-aviation fleets module shows. The remaining seven are leased from CDB Aviation (three), BOC Aviation (three), and AerCap, and have all been parked since mid-2024.<br/>
The Fiji government on Thursday said police were investigating incidents involving two crew members of Australian airline Virgin Australia who were allegedly victims of rape and theft in Nadi in the early hours of New Year's Day. The crew members were in the popular tourist destination on a layover before they were supposed to fly off the following day, Fiji Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew said in a statement. Virgin, which said it was aware of the alleged incidents, has sent people to Fiji to provide support, but did not provide further details in a statement to Reuters. Fiji police said the investigation so far had found some Virgin crew members had gone to a nightclub in Nadi. "Unfortunately, two of the crew members were victims of an alleged theft and rape after exiting the nite club trying to find their way back to the hotel," Chew said. Viliame Gavoka, Fiji's deputy prime minister and minister for tourism and civil aviation, in a statement, clarified that these were two separate incidents of alleged theft and sexual assault which affected two different Virgin crew members. Gavoka expressed regret over the alleged incidents and said that a suspect known to the police for the alleged sexual assault had been questioned and that the investigation was ongoing. The South Pacific island nation of Fiji is a popular tourist destination and received 76,845 visitors in November, mostly from Australia, New Zealand and North America, according to the country's tourism website.<br/>