What we know about Boeing 737-800 model that crashed in South Korea?
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Investigators are trying to work out what caused fatal accident in which 179 people died. Jeju Air’s flight 7C2216 crashed on Sunday, killing 179 of the 181 people on board. The 737-800 is one of the “next generation” models of Boeing’s bestselling 737 series, which was first launched in 1993. The 800 variant first flew in 1997, and was the biggest seller of that generation. It has a maximum capacity of 189 passengers.
The 800 and its next-generation siblings were replaced by the 737-Max, which was closely related but with bigger engines and other upgrades. Design flaws in the Max were at fault in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. Those crashes began the biggest crisis in Boeing’s history, with the entire 737-Max fleet grounded until the design faults were rectified.
The 737-800 will be familiar to many flyers. About 15% of the global passenger aircraft fleet (4,400 planes) are Boeing 737-800s, according to data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium cited by the New York Times. More than 180 airlines around the world use the 737-800 as the workhorse of their fleets, according to theSeatMaps website. They include the big three US carriers – American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta – Europe’s largest airline, Ryanair, and many others including Qantas, Singapore Airlines and the Netherlands’ KLM, according to SeatMaps.
Flight 7C2216 was filled with holidaymakers travelling from Bangkok to Muan in South Korea. It may be some weeks before investigators make public any findings of what caused the crash. Air traffic controllers had issued a bird strike warning as the plane approached the runway, but some experts have questioned whether that could have caused the crash.
