Snowstorm grounds 29 Singapore-South Korea flights

At least 29 flights between Singapore and South Korea have been delayed or cancelled since Nov 27 after South Korea was hit by the heaviest November snowfall in the last half-century.

Three of the 29 flights were cancelled.

In response to The Straits Times’ queries, Singapore Airlines said five of its flights faced delays ranging from one to nine hours.

The affected flights included SQ601, SQ605, SQ607 and SQ611 departing from Seoul to Singapore on Nov 27 and SQ607 departing from Seoul to Singapore on Nov 28.

A Scoot spokesman said the airline continues to operate scheduled flights between Singapore and South Korea.

“As we continue to monitor the weather situation, we may make adjustments to our schedule due to weather considerations in Incheon... We will continue to monitor the situation in South Korea closely and adjust our flight schedules as necessary,” the airline said.

Seoul’s main airport, Incheon, was the worst affected, with passengers facing delays of two hours on average, while 14 per cent of flights were delayed and 15 per cent cancelled on Nov 28, plane tracking website Flightradar24 showed.

Mr Willie Foo and his wife were stuck on board a Singapore Airlines plane for about six hours on the tarmac of Incheon airport on Nov 27 after it was grounded because of the snow.

The 50-year-old Singaporean, who went to Seoul to visit his South Korean in-laws in the city of Suwon, said he boarded the plane at noon and was informed of the delay at 12.45pm.

The flight he was on, SQ611, which was slated to take off at 12.35pm from Incheon Airport for Singapore, departed at 5.55pm.

“Staying inside a plane for six hours waiting was unbearable but the airlines staff kept serving us food and drinks. However, the Incheon airport management was in chaos.

“The staff couldn’t confirm the plane’s take-off lane and required all planes to be washed of the snow before taking off,” said the executive director of a food business.

Mr Foo said the heavy snowfall also resulted in multiple road accidents, which he saw on the way to the airport.

“Our ride from Suwon to Seoul usually takes 40 minutes but we took almost double the time. The road lanes were blanketed with snow. It was so very difficult to navigate as the road markings could not be seen,” he said.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said 16.5cm of snow fell by 7am local time, compared with Seoul’s previous record of 12.4cm on Nov 28, 1972.

More than 40cm of snow piled up in parts of Seoul by 8am on Nov 28, forcing the delay or cancellation of more than 200 flights.

At least four people were reported dead in the bitter winter and 11 people were injured on Nov 27 in a 53-vehicle pile-up on a highway in Gangwon province.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called on officials to “minimise potential damage and public inconvenience caused by the snow”, as the heavy snowfall was expected to continue until the morning of Nov 28.

ST has contacted Korean Air for more information.

Singapore travel agency EU Holidays said 33 customers were affected by the heavy snowfall on Nov 28.

One group of 12 travellers missed their connecting flight to Jeju island as their Asiana Airlines flight from Singapore to Seoul was delayed from 1.55am to 9.50am on Nov 28.

This has resulted in the reshuffling of their domestic flight to Jeju Island and hotel stay.

Another group of 21 people travelling on a Singapore Airlines flight that same day faced a minor delay before their plane took off.

Travel agency Nam Ho Travel Service said that its tours in South Korea have been running smoothly and no tour groups have been impacted by the weather.

Despite the disruptions, some travellers like Ms Genevieve Sng remained undeterred. 

The 22-year-old Singaporean, a university student, was slated to leave Singapore for Seoul at 1.55am on Nov 28 to catch a concert by K-pop boyband NCT Dream the next day.

But her flight was first delayed to 3.50am, and subsequently postponed at about 10am.

She was given the option by airport staff to wait or buy a new ticket. She chose to wait, returning home at around 3am to rest before going back to Changi Airport at 9am.

She said: “It was not a hard decision for me to travel because all the other flights were delayed as well. I did not want to pay for another flight. This is just a super unfortunate situation, but the airport staff did the best they could.

“Everyone was very tired but this added to the excitement of leaving Singapore when we could finally board.”