Airliners earn high marks for safety and punctuality

SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's airliners received high marks for their safety measures and punctuality, but need to boost efforts to raise passengers' satisfaction and damage relief, the nation's transportation ministry said Tuesday.

Korean Air Lines, the country's top flag carrier, and its budget unit Jin Air received an "A" rating in the evaluation report compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Air Busan, a low budget airline under South Korea's No. 2 flag carrier Asiana Airlines, also was rated as "A" in the overall evaluation result. But its parent airline company got a "B" rating in the overall report.

In the six-stage evaluation, an airline is awarded an "A", the highest grade, if its services and safety measures are rated as "excellent." The lowest grade is "F," according to the ministry.

The two largest air carriers -- Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines -- were required to raise their measures for damage relief for passengers and their satisfaction, the evaluation results showed.

Korean Air Lines received a "B" grade for its damage relief measures for passengers and their satisfaction, and its smaller local rival, Asiana Airlines, got "B" and "C" ratings each for its damage relief steps and customers' satisfaction.

The findings also showed that the country's three other low-cost carriers -- Eastar Jet, Jeju Air and T-way -- were all given "B" grade in overall evaluation. In the safety category, all of the five LCCs won the A grade.

In terms of punctuality, Jeju Air and Jin Air won the top grade and Air Busan was given B, while Eastar and T-way received C ratings.

In the category of damage relief, T-way earned A, Air Busan and Eastar gained B and Jeju Air and Jin Air received C.

Meanwhile, the country's five airports, including Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport, all received “A” ratings in the evaluation report, for their fast procedures for entry and emigration and baggage-handling capacity.

sam@yna.co.kr
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