AirAsia flight lands at wrong airport in South Korea, even crew members were confused

AirAsia flight lands at wrong airport in South Korea on 13 Aug

An AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur landed at the wrong airport in South Korea on Wednesday (13 Aug).

Instead of Incheon International Airport, where it was scheduled to arrive at 7.50pm, Flight D7 506 landed at Gimpo International Airport — located about 40km away — at 8.08pm

The pilot even announced that they had arrived at Incheon, but many passengers realised they were at Gimpo when they looked outside the windows, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.

Even crew members allegedly confused by ‘diversion’

Passengers also claimed that even crew members appeared confused by the ‘diversion’.

“A passenger mentioned we were at Gimpo, not Incheon, and even the crew looked surprised and asked us to confirm,” a passenger surnamed Kim told Korea JoongAng Daily.

He added that the crew “became visibly flustered” upon realising they had indeed landed at the wrong airport.

A passenger surnamed Lee echoed this sentiment in an interview with The Korea Herald, saying:

It seemed the cabin crew didn’t know we landed at Gimpo until passengers told them. One crew member even said she needed to call her parents, who were waiting for her at Incheon International Airport.

Lee also accused the crew of failing to manage the situation during the plane’s two-hour ‘layover’ at Gimpo.

“They appeared just as confused as the passengers. No water was offered, and there was almost no food left on board, leaving passengers with children upset,” she said.

Cause of diversion not confirmed

Passengers were also given different explanations for the incident, including turbulence and fuel shortage, said Kim.

At 10.56pm, the plane finally arrived at its original destination in Incheon, but Kim said the passengers were given no apology for the mix-up.

According to MalayMail, the cause of the diversion has not been confirmed, nor has AirAsia commented on the incident.

However, in a video taken on board, a flight attendant was heard saying that the plane had “run low on fuel” and had to make an emergency landing, Korea JoongAng Daily wrote.

Also read: Air India flight returns to Hong Kong due to ‘technical issue’ shortly after take-off

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Featured image adapted from Aviation News Source and The Korean Herald. Picture on the left is for illustration purposes only.