korean

Search Results for "korean".

Korean buys Czech Air

Korean Air finalised its 44 percent investment in CSA (Ceske Aerolinie AS), the Czech government owned flag carrier on April 11, 2013 for a nominal price of 2.64 million euros ($US3.4m). The government said: “We only had two options: either find a strategic partner or consider liquidation of CSA”. Korean was the only bidder for the carrier, although Qatar expressed an interest. If the European Commission loosens regulations on foreign ownership of EU carriers then Korean Air will have first option to buy the remaining 56% stake held by the government owned holding company.  If this occurs in the next twelve months, then the price…

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Tuesday Trip Report: Korean Airlines A380

I have been systematically working my way through all of the airlines that have A380 products. So far I have flown (in date order) Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Emirates and  Lufthansa. Today’s  trip report: Korean Airlines A380. Korean was founded in 1962. For a long time it had a very dubious safety record with 16 aircraft involved in serious incidents and accidents in the 1970s to 1990s. Total loss of life:  700. Their safety has improved enormously, with the last incident in 1997. They have also received several awards for their service with Skytrrax rating them four stars. They are a member…

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Delta & Korean -When an Upgrade means Downgrade

 Skyteam* allow members of one airline’s Frequent Flyer program to use Miles from that airline to upgrade from Economy to Business Class on international flight itineraries of  most of the other airlines in the alliance. I thought I would test this out travelling from Seoul, Korea to Los Angeles on Korean Air‘s A380. I wanted to do it in Business Class- without paying Business Fare! I planned to use my hard earned Delta Skymiles to get the upgrade. The catch is that to be eligible for an upgrade, my ticket would have to be a certain fare code.…

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Korean A380 for Seoul-LAX

Korean Air now has four Airbus A380s as of last Thursday. The newest A380 will undergo the usual tests and will start flying from Seoul/Incheon to Paris ( Mon, Wed, Fri) from 26 September until 29 October and to Los Angeles (every Tue, Thu, Sat) from 10 October 2011. I plan to fly the Seoul-Lax route in November. Anyone want to join me?

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Korean A380 in service

The long anticipated first flight of Korean Air’s A380 took place last week. The sixth airline in the world to fly the plane after Singapore, Qantas, Emirates, Air France and Lufthansa, the first flights were from Seoul (ICN) to Tokyo and Hong Kong Korean have ordered ten A380s. Five will be delivered this year and the next five not until 2014.   They have configured the plane to have the least number of seats of all the airlines flying it (414) with the top deck being all business class with 94 seats. The lower deck has 12 First Class and…

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Korean Air has their A380

Korean Air took delivery of its first A380. The only 380 in the world to feature all business class upstairs, a duty free lounge and an in-flight luxury lounge for business and First customers with bar, sofas and TV.  Their pilots are getting assessed. The Korean government aviation authority will approve the massive plane and then the sixth airline in the world will start flying between  Seoul-Incheon and Tokyo-Narita on June 17. Flights to USA and Europe will follow. I hope to fly Korean’s A380 in October. That will be my fourth airline A380 experience. I have flown Emirates,…

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Korean Air–lets go shopping!

In 2009, Korean Air foreshadowed it would be installing duty free stores on its ten new A380s. The airline is already the number one airline company in the world for in flight retailing!  Now they have revealed the store layout. It will be located at the back of the lower deck near the rear stairs.  The store will replace 13 economy seats. The Korean A380 will have the lowest number of seats on board out of all of the airlines flying it (see my previous Blog post on the Korean A380). The duty free “store” is made…

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First Korean Air A380 peeks out in Toulouse

Blog readers will know that I love the A380 SuperJumbo currently in service with 5 airlines: Air France Emirates (I flew their A380 in 2010 and loved it) Lufthansa (hope to fly this in July) Qantas (see the blog post about my  2010 fabulous A380 flight) Singapore Airlines (flown 2010) Photo Credit David Barrie Showing its colours at Toulouse is the Airbus A380 belonging to the sixth airline to have it,  Korean Air Lines. This is a company that I have never flown because of their dubious safety record (wikipedia: Korean Air had a relatively high…

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A Love Letter to the Queen of the Skies: The Boeing 747

Beginnings of a Love In 1971, I celebrated a childhood birthday in Hong Kong. It was a time of many firsts—my first time in Hong Kong, which then seemed so mysterious with Chinese signs, British police officers, and fingers flying over abacuses in small street side stores. My birthday cake came from Maxims (those who know Hong Kong know Maxims, the quintessential bakery). My parents bought me a toy 747 with flashing lights and moving wings from a toy store, and then we boarded my first flight on a 747. Symbolically, it was with Pan…

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