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Asiana Airlines Headquarters Building. (Photo courtesy of Asiana Airlines) |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] An incident occurred where a passenger on Asiana Airlines opened a closed aircraft door and boarded the plane without authorization.
According to a report by The Economist on Thursday, on December 16, a business class passenger on Asiana Airlines flight OZ711 from Incheon to Taipei opened the left first door (L1 door) and boarded the aircraft.
Flight OZ711 operates between Incheon International Airport and Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan. The route typically uses Airbus A330-300 aircraft, but on this occasion, an Airbus A380 was deployed with a two-level configuration. On the A380, business class passengers are seated on the upper deck, while the lower deck includes business suite and economy class seats. The L1 door in question, located on the lower deck, is used by business suite passengers. With only 12 business suite seats, the boarding for this section closed early, and the L1 door was already closed at the time of the incident.
Other doors, including the L2 door and the upper/lower deck doors, remained open. The passenger who opened the L1 door was a business class passenger, and the correct boarding procedure would have been to use the upper deck door. However, the passenger, possibly confused about the boarding location, opened the already-closed L1 door from the outside and boarded the plane.
A witness stated, “The door opens slightly from the outside, and the button inside needs to be pressed to fully open it. Logically, if the door is closed, passengers should board through another entrance, but this passenger opened the door and entered themselves.”
The passenger informed the crew that they had opened the door and boarded. After confirming that the L1 door had been opened, the crew reported the situation to the safety manager. Upon understanding the seriousness of the situation, the manager informed the captain, and after confirming the facts, the flight departed.
The witness criticized the lack of follow-up action before departure. They said, “According to the crew training manual, in such a case, the manager should report immediately and hand over the passenger who opened the door to the police at Incheon Airport for investigation. Despite having time to act according to the manual, the manager made a complacent judgment, which was problematic.”
Opening a closed aircraft door and boarding without permission is considered a security and public safety threat. Such actions can lead to legal consequences under aviation security laws, including violations of aviation security regulations and illegal entry.
Industry insiders have pointed out that this is a "very serious matter" and that such actions pose a threat to aviation security and public safety.
AlphaBIZ Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
