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A fire broke out on an Air Busan Airbus A321 leased from AerCap while at the gate at South Korea's Busan Gimhae International Airport on Jan. 28.
All 170 passengers and six crew members aboard Flight BX391, which was bound for Hong Kong, were evacuated using emergency slides. Two injuries were confirmed at the time of reporting.
According to Yonhap News, the fire began at around 10:26 p.m. local time from the aircraft’s tail section before engulfing the aircraft. Videos and photographs posted online show fire burning through the aircraft, which is likely a hull loss. The fire was put out at 11:31 p.m. local time.
“We confirm that an Airbus A321 aircraft operated by Air Busan caught fire on the ground,” Airbus said in a statement. “We are in contact with the airline and will provide full assistance to the investigation authorities.”
The Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database shows the aircraft reg. HL7763 (msn 3297) is 17.25 years old, and has flown 31,155 cycles across 40,462 hr.
The aircraft was initially delivered to Air Busan’s parent company Asiana Airlines in 2007 on lease from AerCap. In 2017 the aircraft was then sub-leased to Air Busan.
The incident comes exactly a month after the high-profile Jeju Air accident on Dec. 28, which resulted in the loss of 179 lives. On Jan. 23, South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced measures aimed at improving safety management systems at the country’s nine LCCs. These include tighter supervision of aircraft operating rates, maintenance personnel standards and staffing levels, and compliance with maintenance standards and procedures.
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