Korean Air and Asiana Airlines' flight and cabin crews conduct a joint emergency evacuation drill at Korean Air's headquarters and cabin training center in Gangseo District, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Korean Air
Korean Air said Thursday it has successfully completed a joint emergency evacuation drill with Asiana Airlines cabin crew, a key milestone in the two carriers' ongoing integration process.
The drill, conducted this week at Korean Air's headquarters and cabin training center in western Seoul under the supervision of aviation safety inspectors from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, marked the first time the two airlines' cabin crew have trained together across two different aircraft types simultaneously.
Some 200 executives, employees and ministry officials attended the training, including Korean Air Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Woo Kee-hong.
Twenty-eight cabin crew members — 14 from each airline — took part alongside eight Korean Air flight crew.
The drill covered four areas: oral examinations on emergency landing and ditching equipment, a life raft boarding demonstration, an aborted takeoff evacuation on a Boeing 737-900 simulating an engine fire during the takeoff roll, and a water ditching evacuation on a Boeing 787-9 simulating a dual-engine failure requiring an emergency landing at sea near Honolulu.
The exercise was conducted as part of an Air Operator Certificate integration plan the two carriers have been implementing under ministry oversight for the past two years.
Korean Air said it will conduct a ministry-supervised combined check flight in June, with three flight sessions scheduled for June 2, 4 and 8 across five aircraft types on routes between Gimpo, Gwangju, Incheon, Busan and Jeju.
"This drill was an important process for verifying the safety response capabilities and cooperative systems of both airlines' crew," a ministry official said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
Source: Korea Times News
