Jin Air Co., South Korea’s budget carrier under Korea Air Lines, avoided the worst of losing flight license for breaking the aviation law but would be disallowed to add new planes to its fleet or new flight routes for a certain period.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced Friday that it will not take away the flight permit from the low-cost carrier, concluding that the punishment for management’s wrongdoing would be harsh on Jin Air staff, investors, and consumers.

Instead, the airliner won’t be able to open new routes, register new aircrafts and arrange non-regular flights for a certain period of time as punishment.

On Friday, shares of Jin Air jumped 6.22 percent to close at 23,050 won ($20.48).

The company was found to have breached the country’s aviation law that prohibits foreign nationals from registering as a board of directors of a local air carrier. Cho Hyun-min, the youngest daughter of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, was seated as a board director from 2010 to 2016, although she is a U.S. citizen.

The wrongdoing came under scrutiny after Cho stirred public outcry for her habitual physical and verbal abuses towards employees. Two daughters as well as the chairman and his wife have come under multiple criminal charges ranging from tax evasion to smuggling. The Fair Trade Commission recently added the list by accusing Hanjin and Cho of underreporting in-house transactions to benefit the owner family interests.

The ministry held two hearings to listen to the opinions of Jin Air and a series of meetings to receive advice from experts from legal, business and transport sectors before making the final decision.

The ministry said most of the experts advised that the nullification of its business license would do more harm than good given the potential negative impact on the development of the local aviation industry. They also said the cancellation would cause a massive job loss of Jin Air employees, consumer inconvenience and loss of minority shareholders, according the ministry.

Jin Air announced that it would work hard to become an airline that places customer value and safety as top priorities

By Moon Ji-woong and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]