South Korea’s Jeju Air Crash Tied to Cost Cut, Audit Finds

South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster on home soil — which killed all but two of the 181 people aboard a Jeju Air Co. flight in December 2024 — was caused by cost-cutting decisions during airport construction that were concealed for 16 years, a government audit found.

The operators of Muan International Airport in the country’s southwest opted against costly ground leveling and scrapped plans to use collapsible materials for a structure housing key navigation equipment, South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection said in a 300-page report released late Tuesday. Instead, they built a rigid concrete wall at the end of the runway.