Korean Air to introduce new planes, spend $1.7 bn on safety

Korean Air Lines Co., the country’s flag carrier, plans to bring in new airplanes and spend $1.7 billion on safety measures after a recent spate of accidents.

Korean Air President Woo Kee-hong said on Wednesday it will introduce 90 new aircraft – 10 Boeing B787-9s, 20 B787-10s, 30 B737-8s and 30 Airbus A321neos – by 2028, while retiring old airplanes – six Airbus A330s and six B777-200ERs.

“We are taking the recent problems such as an overrun and two returns of A330s due to engine problems very seriously,” said Korean Air President Woo Kee-hong in a meeting with the transport minister and other airlines' top executives on aviation safety. “We will thoroughly analyze and check to secure a completely safe operation system.”

INVESTMENTS

The plans came as South Korea’s top airline reported four accidents – three involving the A330 – in the July-October period. Last month a Korean Air A330, carrying 162 passengers and 11 crew members overran the runway at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport on the island of the Philippines.

Korean Air plans to carry out intensive inspections of its A330 fleet of 24 planes in addition to the retirement of the six old units.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is scheduled to launch a thorough investigation on Korean Air’s safety system for two weeks from Friday.

Korean Air is set to invest a total of 2.4 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in safety measures.

The carrier plans to spend 1.4 trillion won and 64 billion won next year on fleet and engine modernization, respectively, while setting aside 400 billion won for spare engines and maintenance parts.

It will also invest 500 billion won by 2025 in a new engine factory with a maintenance capacity of 300 engines a year, more than double the current level.

Write to Seo Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.