While there’s nothing official yet, Bloomberg reports that Korean Air is nearing a new wide body aircraft order…
Korean Air may order 20 Airbus A350s
Korean Air is expected to place an order for 20 Airbus A350s, with an announcement possible in the coming days. We don’t yet know the delivery timeline for these jets, or which variant the airline will order (whether it’s the smaller -900 or the larger -1000). Furthermore, we don’t know what the split will be between firm orders and options.
Korean Air is in the process of trying to acquire Asiana, to create a South Korean mega carrier. The company hopes that this deal will be finalized by the end of 2024, as the regulatory approval process has been much more drawn out than expected. The A350 order will be placed as part of a fleet restructuring plan, intended to simplify the fleet of the “new” Korean Air. Korean Air doesn’t currently fly A350s, while Asiana does.
Korean Air last placed a wide body aircraft order in 2019, when the airline ordered 30 additional Boeing 787s.
How the A350 would fit into Korean Air’s fleet
Korean Air and Asiana are both kind of all over the place when it comes to their wide body fleets:
- Asiana flies the A330-200, A330-300, A350-900, A380, 747-400, 767-300, and 777-200ER, and also has the A350-1000 on order; the airline is in the process of retiring its last A330-200s, 747-400s, and 767-300s
- Korean Air flies the A330-200, A330-300, A380, 747-8, 777-200, 777-300, 777-300ER, and 787-9, and has the 787-10 on order
As you can see, both carriers have quite the varied fleet, and a priority for the merger is to simplify that considerably. Many of these aircraft type are being phased out, so I suspect that the goal would eventually be to primarily fly A350s and 787s.
With that in mind, I imagine this A350 order could primarily act as a replacement for existing 777s. Asiana’s 777s are an average of over 16 years old, while Korean Air’s 777s are an average of over 12 years old.
However, there’s quite a bit of difference in age when it comes to variants in Korean Air’s fleet — 777-200s are an average of nearly 19 years old, 777-300s are an average of nearly 25 years old, and 777-300ERs are an average of under 10 years old.
Bottom line
Korean Air is expected to place an order for around 20 Airbus A350s, as part of a post-merger fleet renewal plan. I’m curious to see which variant of the A350 Korean Air selects, and also which planes the A350s are intended to replace.
Asiana and Korean Air are all over the place when it comes to their fleets, so I can appreciate the importance of some simplification.
What do you make of Korean Air’s expected Airbus A350 order?
