Jin Air flight evacuates passengers after smoke incident at Jeju Airport

SEOUL: A Jin Air passenger flight bound for Pohang was evacuated at South Korea’s Jeju Airport after smoke was reported inside the aircraft cabin, airline and aviation officials said.

The incident involved Jin Air flight LJ436, which was scheduled to depart. An anomaly was detected shortly before departure, prompting the immediate evacuation of all 122 passengers and crew members on board.

No injuries were reported, and the situation was swiftly brought under control without disrupting airport operations.

Several passengers reported seeing smoke inside the cabin, while media reports said an internal alarm was activated in the cockpit. Following the evacuation, Jin Air engineers conducted an on-site inspection of the aircraft.

Preliminary findings indicated that the smoke originated from overheating in the auxiliary power unit (APU), located in the tail section of the aircraft. The APU supplies electrical power and other essential services while the aircraft is on the ground.

In a statement, Jin Air said, “All passengers were safely disembarked due to an inspection issue with the aircraft.” The airline deployed a replacement aircraft for the route, which departed approximately four hours later than originally scheduled.

A Jin Air representative clarified that there was no actual fire and, therefore, airport firefighting services were not required to intervene.

Last month, an incident occurred in Brazil when a fire broke out near a passenger aircraft at São Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport, forcing the evacuation of about 180 passengers.

The blaze reportedly started on a luggage conveyor belt used to load cargo onto a LATAM Airlines Airbus A320 bound for Porto Alegre, triggering emergency procedures.