South Korean carrier Asiana Airlines, says it has banned the sale of some emergency row seats after an incident in which a passenger opened the door of a plane mid-flight.
The incident occurred on board one of Asiana’s A321-200s about 213 metres in the air upon approach for landing at Korea’s Daegu International Airport, some 237 kilometres southeast of Seoul.
Consequently, the airline has announced that from yesterday (Sunday), it has stopped selling seat 26A of 11 174-passenger A321-200s, and seat 31A of three 195-passenger A321-200s.
“As a safety precaution, this measure will apply even if the flights are full,” the airline told AFP.
It remains unclear as to how the flyer was able to open the emergency exit door mid-flight. However, the male passenger was sitting in the emergency seat row of the 195-seater Asiana aircraft.
According to Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, none of the 194 people on board were seriously injured during the Friday incident, but 12 passengers were hospitalised after experiencing breathing difficulties.
Citing the seriousness of the case and the risk of flight, police issued an arrest warrant for the 33-year-old Asiana flyer, identified only by his last name, Lee.
The alleged perpetrator could face a prison term of up to 10 years, under an act that prohibits passengers from operating doors, emergency exits or devices of an plane, YNA reported.
According to police officials, Lee said he had been under a lot of stress after losing his job and wanted to get off the plane quickly after feeling suffocated.
The suspect told local media he was also “very sorry to the kids” in reference to a team of teenage athletes that were on the flight on their way to a competition.
Asiana Airlines is Korea’s second biggest carrier after Korean Air.
Last month, Korea exempted Aussies from needing Korea’s Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA).
