Korean Air 747's Days Are Numbered

Korean Air is considering both the Boeing 777X and also Airbus A350 for a major widebody order. They’re also wanting to add more Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to their fleet. Unfortunate news, all of the Boeing 747-400 fleet will be retired very soon.

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[Token_Nerd]

The 747-8s will stay for a long time, hopefully another 20 years, but we'll have to wait and see.

[Sacto]

Korean Air will have to phase out the 747-400 fairly soon. Most airlines are phasing them out anyway. The 747-8I will likely stay in Korean Air's fleet until probably 2025-2027 time frame, given how new those planes are.

[hughrmedia]

1:22 in japan the amount of 777s, 787s and 767s operating domestically is insane

[pondtripreports]

They might retire the -400’s but not the -800’s they are still new and will stay around for a while

[lorentzarmstrong]

Korean Air only just recently acquired their 748i’s, so they’ll be around for some time. Also, Korean is a big cargo carrier with many -400 BCF’s. We may the remainder go this route as well. Then, and they have some already, 747-8F’s and 777F’s for their cargo fleet. Whatever they do, my wife and I love flying on the airline from ATL to BKK with single stopover in Incheon - the quickest and most economical route for us with fantastic service.

[ucube]

the 747-8 are safe for 20 another years, dont they dare touching those!

[karlossargeant]

I will Love this fa sure Awesome Video Navgeek keep posting more videos.

[kingsofserbiangameplay]

747, Queen of the skies, getting the booth. Sad.

[patrickproctor]

The 787s outright replace the 777-200s, but you can't really replace the 747 with the A350-1000. You'd need the 777-8 at a minimum to get your full PAX load, not to mention cargo to subsidize those tickets. I don't think Korean will go with the A350, but we'll see.

[TheEnthusiastOnYoutube]

Wasn't there an age restriction established by the South Korean government long time ago where planes can't reach the age of over 20 years. Surprised to see the 747-400's and 777-200's still going which are over 20 years old.

[timothycook]

Not surprising that they will retire the 747-400s but what will be interesting to see is if they continue with a mixture of 777s, 787s and A350s or try to consolidate the twin engine widebodies to just perhaps two models, but the fact that they have not yet ordered the 777X seems to me they will phase out the 777 and just have 787s and A350s

[jhmcd]

Actually, I heard about this as well. I am not sure if its just when you made the video, but apparently Boeing is going to be the winner of the order. Korean has ruled out getting any Airbus jets (with this order). Yet they hadn't settled on which jets to get. Also, you've said this in another video, that in the US we don't use wide bodies on domestic routes...we actually do. Typically they are hub connectors (American has 787's flying from Dallas to LAX, United 787's from Houston to Newark, and has had 747's sporadically flying from SFO to Chicago, a route that routinely has 767's on it.).

[captaindusty]

If they're going to streamline I'd say:

777x: Replaces older 777-300's and 747-400

A350: Replaces A330, 767 and 777-200's

787 : Also replaces A330 and 767's

Given their most lucrative long haul routes are to the busiest Australian and the United States hubs (LAX, SFO, JFK, SYD etc) I'd say the 747-8i and even the A380 (and potential replacement) may well stay longer

[eazieway]

Just read a news that CEO announced Korean Air will be ordering 777x and 787. No future orders for Airbus as company now wants their orders from single manufacturer.

[IceKrimDream]

Korean Air, one of the only 3 airlines who operates B747i along with Lufthansa and Air China.
Hope they continue to use the old B747s for their cargo division.

[_C_FL]

744s will start disappearing rapidly from passenger service as we reach the middle of the next decade. But cargo airlines need to get spare parts for their 744Fs somewhere!

[darkchaotixproductions]

The 747 wont die.. itll probably revert back to what it would've been which was a cargo airliner

[harrisonofcolorado]

They need to order either one maybe even both of the planes to retire old fleets and prevent getting into red zone. But rip 747 you will always be remembered.

[gang]

I see Korean going with the 777X for 747 and older -300ER replacement. They will also remain with the 787 as A330 replacements. It kind of just makes sense right now based on whats on the market at the moment. 350-900 is a little too big for A330 replacement, and I don't see the point in order 330NEO. 787 offers the flexibly, especially when it comes to capacity from the -8 to the -10 model, whilst being streamlined and less cost for training due to type certification.

[lrg]

Sometimes it’s not about choosing the best overall airplane, but rather the waiting time to get deliveries from factories. This is why a some large carriers fly both the 737 and A320, for example.

Given the foregoing scenario, hard to determine which is the best way to go. I mean, just look at SIA. The airline flies the 777, 787 and A350.

Bottom line: it’s not always possible to streamline a fleet.