Korean air

Korean Air was created in 1962 by the South Korean government as a replacement for the Korean National Airlines, founded in 1948. On March 1, 1969, Korean Air took control of the Korean financial holding Hanjin Transport Group . On April 26, 1971, the airline made its first long-distance cargo flight to Los Angeles , and almost a year later, on April 19, 1972, its first long-distance passenger flight to the same city. ^[2]

The airline served international routes to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Taiwan with Boeing 707 aircraft until 1973, when the new Boeing 747s that were commissioned replaced the 707s on Pacific and Trans-Pacific flights. In 1973, the airline opened a European route with flights to Paris on Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-10 aircraft. With the receipt of Airbus A300 in 1975, Korean Air became the first Asian airline to be a client of the European Airbus concern. ^[3]

On March 1, 1984, the airline changed its official name from Korean Air Lines to the existing Korean Air and changed the livery of airplanes: a livery was introduced with a stylized flag of the republic ("Thegykki") against the background of the dominant blue color with silver and a significantly increased inscription of the new name of the airline. The livery was developed by Korean Air in collaboration with Boeing Corporation and first appeared on Fokker F28 aircraft . In 1990, the airline was one of the first in the world to receive new McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft, however, after a short operation on passenger lines, the MD-11s were converted into a cargo configuration in addition to the already used Boeing 747 cargo fleet.

From 1998 to 2000, South Korea was in a state of economic recession, which is why Korean Air's activities were greatly reduced during these years. In mid-2000, the airline chose Seoul Incheon International Airport as its main hub and began to actively expand its route network.

Currently, Korean Air operates non-stop flights to a significant number of transport hubs in the United States , connecting its hubs with 13 major US airports. Korean Air owns a quarter of the Tianjin- based Chinese airline Okay Airways , since 2007 the airline has been negotiating the opening of its hub in Beijing or Shanghai, tentatively in 2009.

As of March 2007, 16.623 people were employed at Korean Air . ^[2] On June 5 of the same year, the airline announced the creation of a low-budget subsidiary to compete with the Korea Train Express high-speed rail system, which offered passengers lower fares than Korean Air and significantly less stringent security checks. The new low-fire was named Jin Air and began operations on July 17, 2008 with flights between Seoul and Jeju . According to the management, Korean Air plans to additionally transfer several Boeing 737 and Airbus A300 aircraft to its subsidiary airline.

In addition to regular flights, Korean Air also operates charter flights to Kuwait and to Irkutsk (during the summer season). From August 2010 to today, flights to Irkutsk are carried out on a regular basis in the summer and winter.

Passenger ships

As of January 2019, the passenger fleet of the airline consists of the following aircraft ^{[4] [5]} :

Cargo ships

As of October 2018, the airline’s cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft ^[6] :

The average age of Korean Air fleet as of March 2008 was 8.8 years. ^[7]

On December 29, 2006, the airline announced its intentions for the technical transformation of all 747-400 passenger Boeings into a cargo version. ^{[8] For} two years in a row (2004-2005), Korean Air Cargo was the first in the ranking of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) among the largest air cargo carriers in the world in terms of transported tons per kilometers (FTK index) on international routes. In 2005, the Korean Air Air FTK index totaled 7,982 billion tons per kilometer.

On February 3, 2009, the airline placed an additional order for two Airbus A380 aircraft , bringing the total number of 380s ordered to ten units. The delivery of these two airliners is expected in May-June 2014. ^{[9] [10]}

Decommissioned

In 2005, Korean Air spent more than a billion US dollars on the development and implementation of new services and amenities for passengers, in particular, on new sleeping seats for First and Business Class passengers with a personal in-flight entertainment system. These innovations are equipped with all the Boeing 777-200ER salons and some of the Boeing 747-400 , and all new aircraft are commissioned with ready-made solutions. As of June 27, 2007, advanced lounges are present on non-stop aircraft from / to Los Angeles , Las Vegas , Seattle , San Francisco , Atlanta , Chicago , New York , Washington (DC) , Tokyo , Osaka , Nagoya , Guam , Beijing , Shanghai , Paris , Frankfurt , London and Manila .

First Class: Kosmo Sleeper Seat

Korean Air offers first-class passengers comfortable seats Kosmo Sleeper Seat , folding out at an angle of 180 degrees, that is, in a fully horizontal state. The chair has a width of 76.2 centimeters, is equipped with a built-in massager for the lumbar spine, a personal in-flight entertainment system, the AVOD system (video and audio on demand), individual lighting lamps and a small extra bed.

Business Class: Prestige Plus Seat

In the business class cabin of Korean Air , Prestige Plus Seat passenger seats by BE Aerospace are installed. Armchairs are laid out at an angle of 170 degrees, equipped with massage devices for the lumbar spine, AVOD media system and individual lighting lamps.

Economy Class

The new economy class lounges are designed in a beautiful style of thin lines, each passenger seat is equipped with an adjustable headrest and footrest and an 8.4-inch personal screen for the AVOD in-flight entertainment system.

Service

Entertainment System

All showrooms of Korean Air vehicles supplied since the end of 2005 are equipped with AVOD personal touch-sensitive liquid crystal displays, the complex itself is called SKY and manufactured by Thales Avionics. The flight offers a choice of 40 recently released films, 60 short television programs, about 4 thousand music recordings on 300 CDs and ten of the latest games. The selection of programs and films consists of Korean pop culture products and the latest Korean films released by the country's largest studios and television networks.

Broadcast programs and films are available in many languages ​​to all passengers on board, also the SKY system has one important option (My Music, My Music) - passengers can independently configure an individual playlist of musical compositions to listen to them throughout the flight . Korean Air plans to further expand the on-board entertainment service with the launch of the new Airbus A380 .

Interior

The airline has introduced a new color scheme for its aircraft cabins. The color of the sea wave (characteristic of Korean symbols) is dominant in the passenger salons of the first and business classes, in the economy class the colors of dark chocolate and coffee with milk are added. Engineers and designers of the airline regularly study public opinion and introduce additional innovations, in particular, aquamarine, ocher and various shades of blue are added to the color scheme of the salons of the new aircraft ordered.

Nutrition

When flying Korean Air, passengers are offered a wide selection of dishes, mainly Asian cuisine. The airline’s signature dish, which won first place at the Mercury Award in 1997, is bibimbap - a platter of vegetables with steamed rice, Korean hot pepper sauce Kochzhujan and sesame oil . Pibimbap is prepared in several versions, including the addition of beef and salmon meat.

The flight menu includes spicy Korean noodles (bibimmyon), currently offered as a main course on non-stop long-haul flights; in 2006, pibimmyon also won first place at the Mercury Award.

In addition to pibimbap and pibimmyon, the menu of the first, business, premium and prestige airlines includes traditional Korean dishes - bulkogi , Korean porridge (chuk) and, of course, kalbi - pork or beef ribs prepared according to company recipes. The airline has a separate vegetarian menu, and on flights to Japan, an additional Japanese table setting and a set of light kaiseki -style dishes are also provided.

Korean Air has its own SKYPASS frequent flyer program, with the slogan “Beyond your Imagination” for the time being. Since Korean Air is a member of the SkyTeam alliance , Skypass members can accumulate miles on flights of member airlines of this alliance, including Aeroflot . In addition, participants have the opportunity to earn miles for flights of Alaska Airlines , Emirates and Vietnam Airlines , but accruals from the last three airlines do not affect the level of the participant.

SKYPASS has its own specifics in the organization of elite levels. The first elite SKYPASS level is called the Morning Calm Club and is achieved by earning 50,000 miles, of which at least 30,000 must be earned on Korean Air flights. Another option to achieve this level requires you to collect 40 or more flight segments on Korean Air flights, with domestic flights counted for half the segment.

The period of stay at this level is two years, during which to maintain membership in the "Club of Morning Freshness" you need to collect 30,000 miles for flights, of which at least 20,000 must be obtained on Korean Air flights, or set off to the account of 20 segments, of which 15 should be for Korean Air flights. If the SKYPASS participant does not fulfill these conditions, he will return to the basic level. However, to return to the Morning Calm Club level, he only needs to collect the indicated number of miles or segments.

The following levels are assigned for life. Morning Calm Premium Club is available for those who have earned 500,000 miles for flights with Korean Air or other Skyteam airlines. When you earn a million miles per flight, a program member becomes a member of the Million Miler Club.

The privileges of SKYPASS elite levels apply only to the level of service and additional capabilities during flights, but do not provide for any additional accrual of miles. As with the Flying Blue program, earning first-class award tickets also applies to elite level privileges.

• If the elite participant flies in business class, he gets access to the first-class lounge (available at the airports of Seoul / Incheon, Osaka, Los Angeles, New York).

As of May 2015, Korean Air had code-sharing agreements with the following airlines:

Korean Air also partners with Emirates as part of its Skywards Frequent Flyer Program. Skywards members can earn bonus miles by flying with Korean Air , and SKYPASS members can earn miles by flying Emirates Airline .

Korean Air operates its own division of Korean Air Aerospace Division (KAL-ASD) , which is engaged in research and development and is involved in the aerospace industry. KAL-ASD , in particular, licenses MD 500 , UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and F-5E / F Tiger II fighters ^[11] , and collects the fuselage aft and wings for the KF-16 manufactured by the Korean aerospace industry ^[12] , and also manufactures parts for various commercial aircraft, including the Boeing 737 , Boeing 747 , Boeing 777 , Boeing 787 Dreamliner , Airbus A330 and Airbus A380 . ^[13]

KAL-ASD provides aircraft maintenance for the United States Department of Defense in the Asian region and conducts research work in the field of systems simulation and design of launch vehicles, satellites, commercial and military aircraft and helicopters. ^[14]

Korean Air has a fairly high rate in airline accident statistics. As of December 2008, the airline took 71st place in the list of 88 air carriers in the world according to flight safety criteria over the past twenty years ^[15] . Since 1970, Korean Air has lost 16 aircraft in aviation incidents, which killed more than 700 people.

The largest disaster was the border incident on September 1, 1983 in the airspace of the USSR , which killed 246 passengers and 23 crew members. On August 6, 1997, 228 people out of 254 on board died in a crash on Guam Island ^[16] .

• Korean Air - Official Website
• Morning Calm - flight magazine of the company
• Korean Air Cargo - Freight
• Korean Air Aerospace Division
• Korean Air - flight attendant uniform
• KAL007 Flight Website