Asiana Airlines Removes Emergency Exit Seats From Sale

DALLAS - The South Korean airline Asiana Airlines (OZ) will no longer sell seats at the emergency exits of their Airbus A321s for safety precautions. This follows an in air incident on Friday May 26, 2023, when a passenger allegedly opened a door.

The airline is responding to the incident and no longer wants to sell seats that are near these exits. The seats are number 26A on 174-seat A321s and number 31A on 195-seat models, the airline said in a statement.

These seats are located on the left side of the aircraft right next to the emergency exit. The right seats are not affected, as the flight attendants always sit there. “This measure is a safety precaution and applies even if the flight is full,” the airline said. This is a pure safety precaution, it stressed.

Incident

On Friday, during a domestic flight carried out by an Asiana A321 with almost 200 souls on board, a passenger opened the emergency exit door about 200 meters above the ground.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured because the plane was in the final landing approach and therefore everyone was strapped on.

After landing, the man was arrested and, according to the authorities, 12 passengers were taken to the hospital for safety. It was the first incident of this kind in the history of Korean aviation, the Ministry of Transport explained.

https://airwaysmag.com/korean-air-asiana-airlines-merger/

Featured Image: Asiana Airlines Airbus A321neo. Photo: Asiana Airlines.