South Korea's national airlines are found to suffer damages worth 15 to 20 billion won each year due to airplanes colliding with birds, which is called a bird strike. 

During a seminar on aviation safety Friday, Hong Mi-jin, a researcher at Kyung Hee University's Institute of Ornithology said that it cost a national carrier over three billion won in repair costs related to a bird strike incident in 2011.

National flag carriers reported an average of 148 cases of bird strikes annually over the past five years.

During the seminar, participants said that it's more important to appraise preventive efforts made by the airlines than focus on the number of cases. 

Some called for utilizing data on the arrival time of migratory birds as part of efforts to prevent such accidents.