Korean Air orders 103 Boeing aircraft, including B777-8Fs

Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) plans to order 103 new Boeing aircraft, including its first-ever commitment for B777-8F freighters. The deal, announced during the visit of South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung to the United States, also includes more B777-9s, B787-10s, and B737-10s.

The carrier plans to order eight B777-8Fs. It will be its first order for any new-generation widebody twinjet freighters. Its cargo fleet currently comprises four B747-400ERFs, seven B747-8Fs, and twelve B777-200Fs. Its subsidiary Asiana Airlines no longer operates dedicated freighters following the sale of its cargo business to AirZeta.

Korean Air also plans to add twenty B777-9s to its existing order for 20 units of the type, placed in March 2025. The new commitment will also include an additional twenty-five B787-10s, which will come on top of the current unfilled order for six B787-9s and twenty-seven -10s.

In addition, it plans to take fifty incremental B737-10s, complementing its existing unfilled order for nineteen B737 MAX. While Korean Air initially planned to take exclusively B737-8s, it recently converted 12 orders to the -10s.

All newly announced aircraft orders are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2030. In total, they will increase Korean Air's orderbook with Boeing from the current 72 unfilled commitments to 175. The new deal marks the largest single order placed with Boeing by an Asian carrier.

Korean Air's current Boeing fleet comprises six B737-8s, two B737-800s, nine B737-900s, six B737-900ERs, four B747-400ERFs, five B747-8s, seven B747-8Fs, five inactive B777-200ERs, twelve B777-200Fs, four B777-300s, twenty-five B777-300ERs, fourteen B787-9s, and ten B787-10s. The airline also operates one B737-700(BBJ) and one B787-8(BBJ) for the government. Asiana Airlines' only Boeing aircraft are nine B777-200ERs, while LCC subsidiaries Jin Air operates five B737-8s, nineteen B737-800s, three B737-900s, and four B777-200ERs.

Korean Air will also buy 11 spare engines from General Electric and eight from CFM International to support its fleet.