Korean Air

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Korean Air
IATA KE	ICAO KAL	Callsign KOREANAIR
Founded		1962 (privatized 1969)
Hubs		Incheon Int'l Airport Gimpo International Airport
Focus cities		Gimhae International Airport Jeju International Airport
Frequent flyer program		SKYPASS
Member lounge		Korean Air Lounge
Alliance		SkyTeam
Fleet size		122
Destinations		107 incl. cargo
Parent company		Hanjin Group
Headquarters		Seoul, South Korea
Key people		Cho Yangho (Chairman and CEO)
Website: http://www.koreanair.com

Korean Air
Hangul:	대한 항공
Hanja:	大韓航空
Revised Romanization:	Daehan Hanggong
McCune-Reischauer:	Taehan Hanggong

Korean Air (KSE: 003490) is the largest airline based in South Korea. One of the largest airlines in Asia, it operates a network that links Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, and formerly, South America, to its hub at Incheon International Airport and its domestic hub at Gimpo International Airport (formerly Kimpo International Airport). The airline competes with the smaller, younger fleet of Asiana Airlines.

In recent years, Korean Air has upgraded its fleet and services and has won international acclaimation and awards. With its excellent financial performance in 2005, Korean Air received the "Phoenix Award" from Air Transport World (ATW) for its success in overcoming challenges in the global airline industry. It has been named one of Asia's best airlines by Time readers and twice has won the coveted Mercury Award for its inflight catering.

Korean Air has a major air cargo operation, Korean Air Cargo, which overtook Lufthansa in 2005 as the world's largest air cargo business.

Unique to other airlines, Korean Air is also involved in aerospace research and manufacturing. The division, known as the Korean Air Aerospace Division (KAA), manufactures licensed versions of the MD 500 and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and the F-5E/F Tiger II fighter aircraft^[1], the aft fuselage and wings for the KF-16 fighter aircraft manufactured by Korean Aerospace Industries^[2], and parts for various commercial aircraft including the Boeing 737, 747, 777, and the Airbus A330, A340, and A380.^[3] 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.^[4]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Safety record 2 Destinations 3 Fleet 3.1 Passenger fleet 3.2 Cargo fleet 3.3 Retired fleet 3.3.1 Passenger aircraft 4 SKYPASS 5 Codeshare agreements 6 See also 7 External links 8 References

[edit] History

Korean Air began in 1962 as Korean Air Lines and was owned by the South Korean Government. It replaced the former Korean carrier Korean National Airlines. In 1969 KAL was acquired by the Hanjin Transport Group and became privately owned.

International flights to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Los Angeles were flown with Boeing 707s until the introduction of Boeing 747 in 1973. In 1973, KAL introduced Boeing 747s on their Pacific routes and started a European service to Paris using the 707 and DC-10. KAL was also Airbus's first customer outside Europe.

On September 1, 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, also known as KAL 007 or KE007, was shot down by Soviet jet interceptors just west of Sakhalin Island. It was carrying 269 passengers and crew at the time, including U.S. congressman Lawrence McDonald. There were no survivors. The Soviet Union stated it did not know the aircraft was civilian and suggested it had entered Soviet airspace as a deliberate provocation to test their response capabilities.

A blue-top livery was introduced on 1 March 1984 and the airline's name changed to Korean Air from Korean Airlines (However this name is still used in official documents). This livery was first introduced in its Fokker F28. It was designed in corporation 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 did not meet the set performance. As a result, its MD-11s 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 the number of destinations, including destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and Madrid. Currently, Korean Air flies to the most US destinations of any Asian carrier (10 passenger cities in the 50 states). Korean Air currently owns 25% of Okay Airways, a Tianjin, PRC-based airline. Korean Air also has in mind of creating another hub in China. At around 1997, Korean Air founded KAL Catering, the creation caused Korean Air to withdrew its contracts with LSG Sky Chefs and create a new contract with servair.

In October 2006, Korean Air won top honors in the TIME Readers’ Travel Choice Awards 2006 as the Best First/Business Class Airline and the Best Frequent Flyer Program for its Skypass program. The South Korean flagship carrier beat strong international competitors and gained overwhelming support from the readers of TIME magazine to win these categories for the first time. Korean Air was also ranked second in the Preferred Airline category. TIME Magazine conducted the TIME Readers’ Travel Choice Awards 2006 poll from April 24 to June 25, 2006.

[edit] Safety record

From mid 1980s to the late 1990s, Korean Air had safety problems. In fact, the SkyTeam alliance briefly removed Korean Air from its code share program until demonstrable changes were presented to the alliance. The US Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates access to the American airspace, warned the Korean Air management team that its access to the American airports would be restricted unless drastic changes were forthcoming. The U.S. military and the State department advised its personnel to avoid taking Korean Air if other commercial alternatives were available. The competing carrier, Asiana Airlines, benefited tremendously from the dramatic drop in Korean Air's reputation as its safety record was significantly better than Korean Air's.

Since the turn of the century, Korean Air has demonstrated robust improvements in safety and adopted modern principles of CRM (Crew Resource Management). In October 2006, Korean Air won top honors in the TIME Readers’ Travel Choice Awards an indication that many have regained confidence in South Korea's largest airline.

[edit] Destinations

Main article: Korean Air destinations

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Passenger fleet

The Korean Air passenger fleet consists of the following aircraft as of March 2007:^[5]

Korean Air Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers (First*/Prestige*/Economy)	Routes	Notes
Airbus A300-600	8	266 (24/242) 276 (24/252)	Domestic, Fukuoka, Busan/Jeju-Japan, China	To be phased out Replacement aircraft: Boeing 787
Airbus A300-600F	2
Airbus A330-200	3	258 (6/18/234)	Europe, Fiji, Vietnam	Long haul international routes
Airbus A330-300	16	296 (12/28/256) 352 (24/328)	Australia, Japan, China, Southeast Asia and Middle East	Domestic and international routes
Airbus A380	(5 orders)			Entry into service: 2010
Boeing 737-700	(1 order)
Boeing 737-800	14	149 (8/141) 164 (8/156)	China, Southeast Asia	Short-medium haul domestic and international routes
Boeing 737-900	16	188 (8/180)	China, Japan	Short-medium haul domestic and international routes
Boeing 737-900ER	(4 orders)
Boeing 747-400	24	376 (12/58/306) 384 (16/58/310)	North America, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and Europe	High-capacity short haul and long haul international routes Will be converted to Freighter Replacement aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A380
Boeing 747-400C	1
Boeing 747-400F	20
Boeing 747-8F	(5 orders)
Boeing 777-200ER	12 (6 orders)	261 (8/28/225) 301 (12/28/261)	North America, Japan, New Zealand and Europe	High-capacity short haul and long haul international routes
Boeing 777-300	4	376 (12/28/336)	Southeast Asia, China and Japan	High-capacity short-long haul routes
Boeing 777-300ER	(10 orders)		North America	Replacing: Boeing 747-400
Boeing 777F	(5 orders)
Boeing 787-8	(10 orders)			Entry into service: 2009 Replacing: Airbus A300-600

^{*First Class is offered on domestic and short-haul Flights. Prestige Class is offered on international medium-long haul flights.}

[edit] Cargo fleet

The Korean Air Cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft as of January 2007:

Korean Air Cargo Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Routes	Notes
Boeing 747-400F	18
Boeing 747-400BCF	(8 orders)		Converted to freighters from passenger service.
Boeing 747-8F	(8 orders)

The average age of the Korean Air fleet is 7.5 years as of February 2007. Korean Air operates 100 passenger aircraft, and 20 cargo aircraft, for a total of 120 planes as of Dec 14, 2006.

On 31 May 2005 Korean Air signed an agreement on an additional order for a Boeing 747-400ERF, converting an option taken out in 2004, bringing total Korean Air orders for the aircraft to eight, of which five have been delivered. The new aircraft is scheduled for delivery in May 2006^[6]. The airline is also ordering 747-8 and 777 freighters to expand their fleet.

On 29 December 2006 Korean Air has announced that it will convert all passenger 747-400 fleet to freighters to expand its fleet.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Retired fleet

[edit] Passenger aircraft

• Boeing 707 (retired 1987)
• Boeing 727 (retired 1996)
• Boeing 747-200 (retired 1998)
• Boeing 747-300 (retired 2006)
• Fokker 100 (retired 2004)
• McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (retired 1989??)
• McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (retired 1999)
• McDonnell Douglas MD-80 (retired 2003)

[edit] 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.

[edit] Codeshare agreements

Korean Air has codeshare agreements with the following airlines as of March 2007:

Aeroflot Aeroméxico Air China Air France-KLM Alitalia China Airlines China Eastern Airlines China Southern Airlines

Continental Airlines Czech Airlines Delta Air Lines EgyptAir Emirates Garuda Indonesia Hawaiian Airlines Japan Airlines

Kenya Airways LAN Airlines Malaysia Airlines Northwest Airlines Rossiya Airlines Shanghai Airlines Vietnam Airlines

Korean Air is a founding partner in SkyTeam, the world's second largest alliance.

Korean Air is an airline partner of Skywards, the frequent flyer program for Emirates and Sri Lankan Airlines. Skywards members can earn miles for flying Korean Air and can redeem miles for free flights.

[edit] See also

• Korean Air incidents and accidents

[edit] External links

• Korean Air
• Korean Air Cargo
• Korean Air Aerospace Division
• Korean Air Fleet Age
• Korean Air Fleet Detail
• Korean Air Passenger Opinions

[edit] References

1. ^ GlobalSecurity.org
2. ^ Lockheed Martin - Republic of Korea
3. ^ Carrier moonlights in aerospace
4. ^ Korean Air Aerospace Division Official Website
5. ^ Korean Air Corporate Fleet Information
6. ^ Air International, July 2005