GE Aerospace, whose consortium manufactured the engines for the Boeing plane that crashed in South Korea’s worst aviation accident, has joined the investigation, while Seoul extends inspections of all 101 Boeing 737-800 jets by a week.
The Ministry of Transport has extended checks until January 10 following the crash of a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air, which killed 179 people, Joo Jong-wan, vice minister of Transport for civil aviation, said at a news conference press.
“The i’s, putting together a puzzle,” Joo added.
The inspections were initially scheduled to end on Friday, but another ministry official said additional checks would look at issues such as whether airlines devoted enough time to maintenance and secured parts for repairs.
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Sunday’s flight from Bangkok to Muan, in the southwest of the country, landed on its belly and overshot the runway at the regional airport, exploding after hitting a barrier.
The plane’s engines are produced by GE Aerospace’s CFM International joint venture with Safran.
A press representative for GE Aerospace did not respond to an emailed question from Reuters about the investigation at first.
The addition of a GE representative increases the size of the research team to 23, which includes 12 Korean researchers and North American representatives from Boeing and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
