Avian pathogenic
Escherichia coli
(
APEC
) is a major pathogen in the poultry industry worldwide including Korea. In this study, the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of 33 fluoroquinolone (
FQ
)-resistant APEC isolates from broilers were analyzed. All FQ-resistant APEC isolates showed amino acid exchanges at both
gyrA
and
parC
and high minimal inhibitory concentrations for FQs. A total of 11 (33.3%) isolates were positive for the plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (
PMQR
) genes,
qnrA
(8 isolates) and
qnrS
(3 isolates), and showed multidrug resistance. Among the 11 PMQR-positive isolates, 1 and 2 isolates carried
bla
CTX-1
and
bla
CTX-15
, respectively, as extended-spectrum β-lactamase (
ESBL
) producers, and the non-ESBL gene,
bla
TEM-1
, was found in 4 isolates. Among 3 aminoglycoside-resistant isolates,
aac(3)-II
was only detected in 1 isolate. All 8 APEC isolates with resistance to tetracycline carried the
tetA
gene. Overall, 6 of the 7 trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole-resistant isolates carried the sul1 or sul2 genes, while only 2 of the 8 chloramphenicol-resistant isolates carried the
catA1
gene. Although 9 isolates carried class I integrons, only 4 isolates carried the gene cassettes
dfr
A12-
aad
A2 (2 isolates),
dfr
A17-
aa
dA5 (1 isolate),
ext
X-
psp-aad
A2 (1 isolate), and
dfrA27
(1 isolate). The most common plasmid replicon was FIB (8 isolates, 72.7%), followed by K/B (4 isolates, 36.4%). Antimicrobial resistance monitoring and molecular analysis of APEC should be performed continuously to surveil the transmission between poultry farms.