Eastar Jet facing probe over alleged erroneous documents and may lose flight license

Eastar Jet Co. Ltd. may be probed after the transport ministry of South Korea revealed last week it will submit a request for an investigation of the low-cost airline headquartered in Banghwa-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the country's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said it made the request to check if the budget carrier committed any violation when it obtain the approval to resume its flights last year. There could be some misstep in the process, and the agency wants to look into this.

Also, based on the financial statements that were published by the Financial Supervisory Service's regulatory on May 13, Eastar Jet was in complete capital erosion in the last part of 2021. This means that at that time, there was a decrease in the actual worth of the company's business equity as a consequence of an increase in market prices.

Moreover, the MOLIT was said to have recently discovered that the air carrier submitted false accounting documents so it can be granted an air operator certificate (AOC) approval. The papers were forwarded to the agency on Dec. 15, 2021, and for this reason, the office made the decision to ask the authorities to look into the case.

Through the probe, MOLIT wants to know if Eastar Jet "intentionally" concealed its capital erosion status so it can secure the AOC's approval and start operating again. On the other hand, the airline stated the documents that it forwarded to the ministry in November were based on the company's financial statements that were available as of the last part of May 2020.

However, the company had unexpected losses that were discovered in its 2021 financial statements when the accounting system was put up again in February this year. It was said that the system was suspended for months due to issues with costs.

Eastar Jet denied the claims and stated it simply did not have any choice but to submit its financial data from May 2020 since it did not have access to its accounting system at that time.

"We will explain what brought the differences in the annual financial figures to the ministry and cooperate in the investigation," the air carrier said.

Meanwhile, Pulse News reported that in case Eastar Jet is found guilty, it may lose its international permit to fly. This permit is needed to secure the air operator certificate, which is the last requirement so it can resume its long-haul flights.