⊙  Korean Air unveiled the production line of its first A380 aircraft at the headquarters of Airbus in Toulouse, France, on October 20th 2010.
⊙ Korean Air’s A380 with 400-450 seats provides generous cabin space and exciting facilities.
⊙ By launching A380, Korean Air further strengthens its position as a leading global carrier. 

Korean Air unveiled the production line of its first four A380 aircraft at the headquarters of Airbus in Toulouse, France, on October 20th 2010.
Korean Air has made an order of 10 A380 aircraft to provide premium air travel experience to its customers all over the world and to further strengthen its position as a leading global carrier. Its first A380 is scheduled to be delivered next May.

◇ The first four A380s are now entering the final assembly stage in Toulouse

The production process of A380 aircraft involves four countries – The front and back of the aircraft body and vertical tail are made in Hamburg, Germany; the cockpit and middle part of the body in France; the wings in the UK and tail plane in Spain; All the parts are now being assembled in Toulouse.

Korean Air’s first four A380 aircraft are now in the middle of final assembly process at the Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse. An A380 aircraft, featuring the Korean Air logo, is now waiting for its first test flight, which will make sure all systems are working properly in the aircraft. After the test flight, the first A380 will be sent to the manufacturing plant of Airbus in Hamburg this November to go through the final production process such as cabin facility attachment and body painting. Delivery to Korean Air is scheduled next May.

The second, third and fourth A380s, which are scheduled to be delivered to Korean Air respectively next June, July and August, are now at different assembly stages.

◇ The best premium A380 featuring only 400-450 seats

To provide the best premium service, Korean Air decided to attach a total of 400-450 seats in its A380 aircraft, fewer seats compared with A380 aircraft operated by other airlines. The 400-450 seating layout will maximize cabin space of the next generation super jumbo aircraft and provide customers with the most spacious and comfortable air travel experience.

The design of Korean Air’s A380 cabin is to promote relaxing air travel and exciting cabin facilities such as the Premium Lounge. 

The next generation premium seats that are currently installed in mid-and long-haul flights will also be installed in the A380 cabin.

The First Class seats will be installed with ‘Kosmo Suites’, a seat designed by overseas professional manufacturers for the first time in Korea. Prestige Class seats can be 180˚ flattened and offers the ‘Prestige Sleeper’. Ergonomically-designed ‘New Economy’ seats are to offer more comfortable Economy Class air travel.

Moreover, all seats are installed with the most advanced AVOD system.

Korean Air introduced the AVOD service to the Economy Class in 2005, and the introduction of A380 will once again be a ground-breaking improvement of the traveling culture.

◇ A380 to be introduced next year - acceleration of Incheon International Airport to become a global hub

Korean Air is the 6th carrier to introduce A380 to its service. However, it is the first airline to fly A380 between the US and Asia.

Korean Air will introduce a total of five A380 aircraft by the end of next year. Also, from 2012~2014, an additional five aircraft will be introduced, bringing the total to ten aircraft.

With the new A380 service, Korean Air which already flies the most transpacific routes, will become the most dominant Asia-Pacific routes operator and will increase its competitiveness for Asia-Europe routes.

The introduction of the super jumbo aircraft, A380, will also increase passengers from China, Japan, and East Asia transferring to the US and Europe, accelerating the speed of Incheon International Airport to become a global hub.

In the beginning, Korean Air will operate the aircraft for short-haul routes to major cities such as Japan and East Asia, to allow more passengers to experience the next generation aircraft. From next August, the A380 will fly regular long-haul routes to the US and Europe.

◇ Perfect preparation for A380 (human resource/marketing)

Korean Air, with the launch of A380 just around the corner, is fully-prepared in all human resources aspects, including the pilots, cabin crews, maintenance crews, etc.

Korean Air will train 120 pilots for the launch of five A380s next year. In preparation for this, Korean Air will send pilots to the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse next March for training and introduce A380 simulator equipments to the Incheon training center for training purposes in near future.

Training of A380 cabin crews has already started in May. The training consists of information about the basic outline of A380 aircraft and its unique characteristics, proper use of system, customized emergency procedures and much more.

To build an efficient maintenance system for A380, Korean Air started an education course for the mechanics since last October. An A380 engineer has been running a theory/practical course for our maintenance team since March.

Although the A380 is the largest commercial passenger aircraft in the world, it has a reduced weigh using composite materials and enjoys enhanced engine efficiency by lowering fuel consumption by 15% and CO2 emission by 20%.

Korean Air is planning to deploy more A380s in its flights to fulfill its environmental protection commitment.