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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 2222.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Korean Air plays the Games SEOUL Korean Air has embarked on a major expansion programme in preparation for two important sporting events which it hopes will provide the catalyst for its growth into a major Asian carrier, reports Anthony Vandyk from Seoul. Korean Air and the Government are banking on next year's Asian Games and the Olympics in 1988 to provide a showcase for the country and put it at the top of Asian tourist destinations. Hitherto the carrier's main customers on international routes have been Koreans living abroad. These events are the sort of boost that Korean Air needs, with the shooting-down of Flight 007 in August 1983 still casting a shadow over the airline. It is a factor of which Korean Air executives are aware. The airline changed its image, its name (from Korean Air Lines), and its livery last year in a bid to ditch its poor reputation for safety. Chairman C. H. Cho has quietly made many changes in the operations department, including setting up an "office of inspection" aimed at "improving the professional skill of the cock pit crew". Measures have also been taken to "improve the English-speaking ability of flight crews". Cho recently went on record expressing Korean Air's devotion to "the two Ss—safety and service". Korean Air expansion stra tegy includes increasing its network and fleet size. By 1988 Korean Air expects to add at least ten more inter national cities to the 35 points in 19 countries which it currently serves. The highest priority is attached to flying to additional points in the USA (Chicago and Oakland in particular) and Europe (notably London), but bilat eral negotiations have so far been unsuccessful. Route expansion plans include some areas of the world of con siderable traffic potential (Canada and Australia, for example) and others of less so (such as Latin America, Kenya, and South Africa). This year Korean Air expects to carry about 6-4 million passengers (just under half of them on international services) and 301,000 tons of cargo (three quarters on inter national routes), generating some $1,345 million revenue. In 1984 KAL earned a net profit of $4-9 million on $1,245 million revenue from 5-7 million passengers and 232,422 tons of cargo. To carry this increased traf- Korean Air chairman C. H. Cho fic and to cater for the extra demand forecast over the next few years, Korean Air plans to build-up its fleet, which consists of 14 Boeing 747s (including two -300s, four freighters and two SPs), four DC-10s, eight Airbus A300B4s, seven 727s, six 707s (including three freighters), two F.28s and two F.27s plus a Casa 212, a Citation, and a Falcon. The DC-lOs, 707s, and F.27s are scheduled to be phased out as additional aircraft, now on order or planned for acquisition by the end of 1988, come into service. These include five more 747s, an additional F.27, three to eight more A300-600s and six MD-82s. The expansion of the fleet will require an expansion of Korean Air's maintenance facilities, which are currently concentrated at Seoul's Kimpo airport. An increasing amount of work is being performed at Kimhae Airport, Pusan, and there are plans to build a double-bay 747 hangar at Kimhae as part of the airline's programme to trans fer more overhaul work. Kimhae is also used for the licence production of military aircraft, including Northrop F-5s, an aspect of the company's activity which is not publicised. Most of Korean Air's tech nical staff work at Kimpo Airport, where the fleet is based. The airline is 100 per cent self-sufficient in over hauling airframes and engines of all the aircraft it has in scheduled service. It is 80 per cent self-sufficient in avionic components, 85 per cent for instruments, 70 per cent for mechanical accessories, and 65 per cent for hydraulics and pneumatics. Last year a 100,0001b engine test cell, designed by Aero Systems Engineering and built by a company affiliated with Korean Air was brought into service. The airline is proud of its technical dispatch record—99 • 5 per cent in 1984. The 614 cockpit crew members of Korean Air include 342 pilots and 68 flight engineers with over 20 years' flying experience. More than 125 of the 194 pilots have logged over 10,000hr, over 200 between 10,000 and 15,000hr, 13 over 20,000hr, and two over 25,000hr. Since the inaugura tion of the Flight Crew Train ing Centre at Inchon, near Seoul, last year, 747 crews have been able to do their simulator training in Korea, but those flying other aircraft use other Asian airlines' simu lators. The 1,400 cabin attendants, most of them university grad uates, are trained at a special school in Inha University belonging to the Hanjin Group, of which Korean Air is the major component. Formed in 1945, the Hanjin Group took over the national airline in 1969. The group includes subsidiaries performing a variety of services, sometimes on a monopoly basis, for foreign carriers as well as Korean Air. Control of the Hanjin Group still rests with the Cho family. C. K. Cho, brother of C. H., is president of Korean Air. C. K. is particularly con cerned at constantly improv ing the airline's renowned cabin service, and he has been known to assist flight atten dants during busy periods on crowded aircraft. A three-year "service improvement plan" to be completed by the end of 1987 has the aim of "strengthening Korean Air's international competitiveness by uplifting the quality of its service and improving its image in preparation for the Asian and Olympic Games". Korean Air's CAE 747 simulator at its new Inchon training centre FLIGHT International, 13 July 1985
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