Everything about Korean Air totally explained
Korean Air (formerly
Korean Air Lines) (Korean Air
Daehan Hanggong) is the
flag carrier airline of
South Korea; its global headquarters are located in
Seoul in
Korea. Its international passenger division and related subsidiary cargo division together serve 130 cities in 45 countries, while its domestic division serves 20 destinations. It is among the top 20 airlines in the world airlines in terms of passengers carried. It is the largest
airline based in
South Korea, the second largest being
Asiana Airlines.
Incheon International Airport, located in
Incheon serves as Korean Air's international hub and gateway. Korean Air also maintains a satellite headquarters campus at
Incheon International Airport, located 30 minutes away from South Korea's capital,
Seoul.
Korean Air's main global headquarters campus and its Global Operations Center are located in
Seoul,
Korea in Gangseo-gu (ward). Korean Air also maintains a domestic office campus at
Gimpo International Airport in Seoul. Korean Air's lesser domestic superhubs are based at
Jeju International Airport and
Gimhae International Airport,
Busan.. The maintenace facilities are located in Gimhae international airport.
History
Korean Air was founded by the
South Korean Government in 1962 as
Korean Air Lines to replace
Korean National Airlines (founded in 1948). On
1 March 1969 the
Hanjin Transport Group took control of the fledgling airline. Long-haul freight operations were introduced on
26 April 1971 followed by passenger services to
Los Angeles on
19 April 1972.
A blue-top, silver and redesigned
livery with a new corporate "Korean Air" logo featuring an accented, stylized "
taegukki" design was introduced on
1 March 1984 and the airline's name changed to
Korean Air from
Korean Air Lines. This livery was introduced on its
Fokker F28s. It was designed in cooperation between Korean Air and
Boeing. In 1990s Korean Air became the first airline to use the new
MD-11 to supplement its new fleet of
Boeing 747-400s. However, MD-11 didn't meet the set performance and they were converted to freighters (in addition to 747 freighters).
In 1998, an economic recession hit South Korea, which resulted in large reductions in flights and destinations. In 2000, South Korea recovered and Korean Air expanded its global destination network, adding gateways from its hub at
Incheon International Airport.
Korean Air flies to the most US gateway destinations of any Asian carrier (14 cities in the 50 states and territories).
Korean Air owns 25% of
Okay Airways, a
Tianjin,
PRC-based airline. As of 2007, Korean Air is in negotiations to open its China hub in Beijing or Shanghai by the end of 2008.
The airline has 16,623 employees (at March 2007).
Korean Air Fleet>
| Aircraft |
Total |
Passengers
(First*/Prestige*/Economy) |
Routes |
Notes |
| Airbus A300-600 |
8 |
266 (24/242)
276 (24/252) |
Domestic/International short-medium haul
Japan, China, Southeast Asia |
To be phased out
Replacement aircraft: Boeing 787 |
| Airbus A330-200 |
3 |
256 (6/18/232) |
International long haul
Egypt, Europe, Fiji, Vietnam |
|
| Airbus A330-300 |
16 |
296 (12/28/256)
296 (24/272)
352 (24/328) |
International short-medium haul
Australia, Japan, China,
Southeast Asia and Middle East |
|
| Airbus A380-800 |
(8 orders) |
|
International long haul
North America, Europe |
Entry into service: 2010
Replacing: Boeing 747-400 |
| Boeing 737-700 |
(1 order) |
|
|
|
| Boeing 737-800 |
16 |
149 (8/141)
150 (12/138)
164 (8/156) |
Domestic/International short-medium haul
China, Southeast Asia |
|
| Boeing 737-900 |
16 |
188 (8/180) |
Domestic/International short-medium haul
China, Japan |
|
| Boeing 737-900ER |
(4 orders) |
|
|
|
| Boeing 747-400 |
23 |
376 (12/58/306)
420 (15/25/380) |
International long haul
High-capacity short haul
|
Exit from service: 18 long haul
route aircraft will leave by 2010 |
| Boeing 777-200ER |
16
(2 orders) |
261 (8/28/225)
301 (12/28/261) |
International long haul
High-capacity short haul
North America, Australia, Japan,
New Zealand and Europe |
|
| Boeing 777-300 |
4 |
376 (12/28/336) |
High-capacity short-medium haul
Southeast Asia, China and Japan |
|
| Boeing 777-300ER |
(10 orders)
(4 options) |
|
International long haul |
Replacing: Boeing 747-400 |
| Boeing 787-8 |
(10 orders)
(10 options) |
|
|
Entry into service: 2009
Replacing: Airbus A300-600 |
*Prestige class (business) is offered on domestic short haul. First class and Prestige class is offered on most international flights with some offering only Prestige class.
Cargo
The Korean Air Cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft as of September 2007:
The average age of the Korean Air fleet is 8.8 years as of March 2008.
Korean Air operates 102 passenger aircraft, and 23 cargo aircraft, for a total of 125 planes as of November 30, 2007.
On
31 May 2005 Korean Air signed an agreement for an additional order for a
Boeing 747-400ERF, converting an option taken out in 2004, bringing total Korean Air orders for the aircraft to seven. The airline is also ordering
Boeing 747-8 Freighter and
Boeing 777 Freighter to expand their fleet.
On
29 December 2006 Korean Air has announced that it'll convert all passenger
Boeing 747-400 fleet to freighters to expand its fleet.
Korean Air Cargo has been ranked the world's top commercial airline cargo operation by the
International Air Transport Association (IATA) for two consecutive years (2004~2005), as measured by international (not domestic) FTKs. During 2005, Korean Air recorded 7.982 billion international FTK, topping the charts.
Retired
Cabin
In 2005, Korean Air invested more than 1 billion dollars to bring in new products and services. New products include sleeper seats for First and Business Class, as well as personal In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) devices. These products are available in newly delivered
Boeing 777-200ER aircraft as well as select
Boeing 747-400 aircraft. The new cabin will gradually be added to all long haul aircraft. Korean Air operates "Ladies Only" lavatories: only women on board are allowed to use them.
As of
June 27,
2007, Korean Air's new cabin is available on non-stop flights to and from Los Angeles*, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Guam, Beijing, Shanghai, Paris, Frankfurt, London, and Manila.
- Note: the flight to Los Angeles via Tokyo doesn't have the new cabin.
First Class - Kosmo Sleeper Seat
Korean Air's new first class offers passengers a "Kosmo Sleeper Seat" that can recline to 180 degrees. Custom made for Korean Air, the new fabric seat is 30 inches wide and is equipped with privacy partitions and AVOD (Audio Visual On Demand) entertainment. Also, lumbar massage, movable side armrests, a buddy seat (auxiliary seat) and individual reading lights are added to the new seat.
Business Class - Prestige Plus Seat
The new "Prestige Plus Seat" is manufactured by B/E Aerospace and reclines to 170 degrees. The seat comes with individual reading lights, lumbar massage, privacy partitions and AVOD (Audio Visual On Demand) entertainment.
Economy Class
Manufactured by Weber, Korean Air's new economy class features a slim-line design. Every seat is equipped with adjustable headrests, footrests, a cup holder and an 8.4" personal screen that features
AVOD entertainment.
Experience
In-flight entertainment
All classes in newly retrofitted/ delivered aircraft is equipped with personal LCD touch-screens featuring AVOD (Audio Visual On Demand). The system is named SKY and manufactured by Panasonic Avionics Corporation. Offerings include a selection of over forty newly released movies, 60 short programs, over four thousand songs on 300 CDs and ten latest games. Selections also include channels dedicated exclusively to programming on contemporary Korean pop culture, music and the latest Korean movies and dramas released by major Korea broadcasting networks.
All selections are available to all passengers in various passengers' languages. Unique to the SKY system, the interactive feature allows passengers to use a "My Music" feature to customize a personal jukebox to listen to for the duration of the flight. Korean Air will roll-out enhanced video and audiovisual services through this system to all newly acquired aircraft, as it'll be one of the first Asian carriers to receive the Airbus 380.
Interior
A new color scheme of aircraft seats was introduced. Celadon green, a color that's characteristic to Korea, has been incorporated as the primary dominant colors to all First Class, Business Class and Prestige Class seats.
In addition, dark blue and mocha chocolate was used for economy class seats. Korean Air engineers and customer service focus groups' conclusions and input were sought in also integrating ochre, aquamarine and various tones of blue in all newly acquired aircraft.
Dining
Korean Air is introducing tableware designed by Kwangjuyo, a Korean ceramics and dining ware boutique manufacturer. The tableware will be supplemented by Wedgwood flatware.
Kwangjuyo flatware with the Korean Air logo will feature traditional Korean brushwork. The flatware will feature images from an ancient Koguryo painting called "Four Seasons of White Forsythia." These images will be applied to all First Class and selected Business Class tableware. Prestige Class tableware will have images from another famous Korean painting - "Four Seasons of a Willow."
Korean Air has also commissioned Kwangjuyo to design Economy Class tableware. This tableware will incorporate traditional Korean shapes and this roll-out is scheduled to be completed in late 2007.
Korean Air offers a variety of Korean meals in-flight, available in all classes.
Bibimbap (Assorted vegetables accompanied with steamed rice, Korean spicy sauce red-pepper paste known as
Kochujang and
sesame oil), a Mercury Award winner in 1997, is the airline's signature offering. It has a few variations, including beef bibimbap and salmon bibimbap.
In 2006, Bibim Noodles (Spicy Korean Noodles), a newly introduced in-flight meal that was adopted in the in-flight menu as a second meal option on long haul flights, won the Mercury Award, making this the second time that Korean Air win this award. Vegetarian Korean meals are on menus on out-bound destinations in Korean Air's network.
Other than Bibimbap and Bibim Noodles, Korean porridge (jook),
bulgogi and
galbi are also available. Korean traditional court cuisine has been launched in First Class, Business Class, Prestige Class and Premium Economy classes due to Korea's
popular culture being the focus of
hallyu. Japanese style
kaiseki meals are offered to all Japanese destinations.
SKYPASS
SKYPASS is the
frequent flyer program of Korean Air. "SKYPASS" also refers to the blue card which Korean Air frequent flyers are given. SKYPASS's motto is "Beyond your Imagination," which is also printed on the card. The program's elite levels are comparable to those of other airlines'
frequent flyer programs, requiring members to fly a certain number of miles per two-year cycle. Qualification for the highest level is based on lifetime flight miles, requiring a customer to fly 1 million miles. Membership in this level is granted for life.
Codeshare agreements
Korean Air has codeshare agreements with the following airlines as of July 2007:
Korean Air is a founding partner airline in
SkyTeam, the world's second largest
airline alliance.
Korean Air is an airline partner of
Skywards, the frequent flyer program for
Emirates Airline and
SriLankan Airlines. Skywards members can earn miles for flying Korean Air and can redeem miles for free flights.
Aerospace research and manufacturing
Korean Air is also involved in aerospace research and manufacturing. The division, known as the Korean Air Aerospace Division (KAL-ASD), manufactures licensed versions of the
MD 500 and
UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and the
F-5E/F Tiger II fighter aircraft, the aft fuselage and wings for the
KF-16 fighter aircraft manufactured by
Korean Aerospace Industries, and parts for various commercial aircraft including the
Boeing 737,
747,
777, and the
Airbus A330, and
A380. KAA also provides aircraft maintenance support for the United States Department of Defense in Asia and maintains a research division with focuses on launch vehicle, satellite, commercial and military aircraft, helicopter, and simulation systems.
Incidents and accidents
Main article: Korean Air incidents and accidents
Since 1970, Korean Air has had six incidents and accidents with passenger fatalities.
Korean Air Lines Flight 007, also known as KAL 007, was a Korean Air Lines civilian airliner shot down by Soviet jet interceptors on September 1, 1983 just west of Sakhalin island. 269 passengers and crew, including US congressman Lawrence McDonald, were aboard KAL 007; there were no known survivors.
The last fatal passenger incident, as of 2008, was the Korean Air Flight 801 crash in 1997. The latest crew fatality was flight 8509 in December of 1999.
Gallery
Image:KoreanAirOfficeInTokyo.jpg|Korean Air/Hanjin Office in Minato, Tokyo, Japan as seen from the Tokyo Tower
Further Information
Get more info on 'Korean Air'.
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