Upgrades
At Boeing's Everett Delivery Center in Seattle on Aug. 25 (local time), Korean Air held a ceremony to mark its acquisition of its first next-generation B747-8i jet airliner, with officials of the two companies attending, including Korean Air Vice President Cho Won-tae and Ray Conner, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
With this purchase, Korean Air has become the world’s first carrier to operate both B747-8i jet airliners and B747-8F cargo planes. The B747-8i is a next-generation plane that improves fuel efficiency and reduces noise levels and carbon emissions with cutting-edge technology, said the company.
In particular, it is 5.6 meters longer than the B747-400. The additional length allows Korean Air to add roughly 50 more seats. Cargo space is also 27.9 square-meters bigger.
The plane has a total of 368 seats – six First Class seats, 48 Prestige Class seats (26 seats on the first floor and 22 seats on the second floor), and 314 Economy Class seats. Considering the fact that the existing B747-400 has 333 or 335 seats, the Korean carrier has installed only about 30 more seats, providing more generous seating spaces.
Korean Air brought the B747-8i into the country on Aug. 26 (local time), and it will make its virgin flight to Frankfurt, Germany, on Sept. 2. After that, the carrier will put the next-generation airliner into flights connecting Singapore, San Francisco, and Hong Kong.
Including this first one, Korean Air will introduce four B747-8is this year alone and run 10 total by 2017.