Passengers Stuck for 4 Hours, Delayed, then Diverted in South Korean Pressurization Incident

On January 14th, at Okinawa's Naha Airport in Japan, a South Korean airliner had a rather unusual experience while trying to depart for home. The flight, Eastar Jet Flight 632 (ZE632) had to return to the ramp twice, and after finally taking off subsequently diverted back to Naha Airport where it took off from.

The 133 passengers on board waited for 4 hours in the plane, were sent back into the terminal, and had their flight canceled after the diversion.

Flight Details

Eastar Jet Flight 632 (ZE532) was a scheduled flight from Naha International Airport (OKA) in Okinawa, Japan to Incheon International Airport (ICN) in Seoul Capital Area, South Korea. The flight was operated by a 5-year-old Boeing 737-8 MAX registered as HL8544.

Initially, the flight was to depart at 3:00 PM local time (JST). However, the 737 experienced issues with its air conditioning unit, causing a ramp return. After the problem was taken care of, it departed again, but was forced to return to the ramp another time for the same reason.

The 133 passengers were on board for four hours at this point. After the second ramp return — at around 7:00 PM local time — passengers were let off the aircraft and into the terminal. Two hours later, at 9:00 PM, the passengers were once again called to board the aircraft, which was now departing 6 hours behind schedule. It finally took off at 9:47 PM, 6 hours and 47 minutes late.

However, the trouble did not stop there. While the flight was able to take off from Okinawa, this time a pressurization issue occurred. Due to the gravity of the incident, the pilots decided to divert back to Okinawa and entered a holding pattern for 25 minutes.

The aircraft touched down at 10:38 PM, 50 minutes after taking off. The flight was finally canceled, and passengers were offered accommodations or other flights out of the island.

The Aftermath

Eastar Jet released the following statement:

"We have offered overnight accommodations near the airport and flights out of the island on other airlines, or refunded the tickets. We apologize for the inconvenience to the passengers. We will compensate affected passengers according to our internal regulations."

The aircraft involved, HL8544, was parked at the airport until January 16th. Replacement parts were flown in to Okinawa and the 737 was repaired there. The aircraft eventually returned to its home base in Seoul on January 16th at 4:24 PM, and took off for Bangkok operating as Eastar Jet Flight ZE511. At the time of writing, it is on the ground at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK).

The diversion comes after heightened tension regarding aviation safety in South Korea, especially after the crash landing of Jeju Air Flight 2216.