The story
Founding
In 1962, government of the Republic of Korea acquired Korean National Airlines, which was founded in 1946, and changed its name to Korean Air Lines to become a state-owned airline. On 1 March 1969, the Hanjin Group acquired the state-owned airline and it is the beginning of Korean Air. Long-haul trans-pacific freight operations were introduced on April 26, 1971, followed by passenger services to Los Angeles International Airport on April 19, 1972.
Expansion
Korean Air operated international flights to destinations such as Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and Los Angeles with Boeing 707s until the introduction of the Boeing 747 in 1973. That year, the airline introduced Boeing 747s on its trans-Pacific routes and started a European service to Paris, France, using the 707 and then McDonnell Douglas DC-10. In 1975, the airline became one of the earliest Asian airlines to operate Airbus aircraft with the purchase of three Airbus A300s, which were put into immediate service on Asian routes. In 1981, Korean Air opened its cargo terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. Since South Korean aircraft were prohibited from flying in the airspace of North Korea and the Soviet Union at the time, the European routes had to be designed eastbound from South Korea, such as Seoul ~ Anchorage ~ Paris.
Change to 'Korean Air'
A blue-top, silver and redesigned livery with a new corporate "Korean Air" logo featuring a stylized Taegeuk design was introduced on March 1, 1984, and the airline's name changed to Korean Air from Korean Air Lines. This livery was introduced on its MD-80s and Boeing 747-300s. It was designed in cooperation between Korean Air and Boeing. In the 1990s, Korean Air became the first airline to use the new McDonnell Douglas MD-11 to supplement its new fleet of Boeing 747-400 aircraft; however, the MD-11 did not meet the airline's performance requirements, and they were eventually converted to freighters. Some older 747 aircraft were also converted for freight service. In 1984, Korean Air's head office was in the KAL Building on Namdaemunno, Jung District, Seoul.
Checkered safety culture and record
Korean Air was once notorious for its abysmal safety record and high rate of fatal crashes. In 1999, Korea's President Kim Dae-jung described the airline's safety record as "an embarrassment to the nation" and chose Korean Air's smaller rival, Asiana, for a flight to the United States.
Between 1970 and 1999, Korean Air wrote off 16 aircraft due to serious incidents and accidents, with the loss of over 700 lives. In the case of Korean Air Flight 801, the National Transportation Safety Board unanimously concluded that the airline's inadequate pilot training contributed to the pilot error that caused the fatal crash.
In 1999, Delta Air Lines suspended its code-sharing relationship with Korean Air, explicitly citing its poor safety record following the fatal crash of Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316. It marked the first time safety was explicitly cited as the reason for stopping a major code-sharing alliance by an airline. Other partners including Air Canada and Air France followed suit.
In 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration downgraded South Korea's aviation safety rating and blocked South Korean carriers from expanding into the United States after the country and its carriers failed to improve sufficiently following a warning the previous year. The move was driven by the country's lax oversight of its carriers including Korean Air.
The rating has since been restored as the airline invested billions of dollars to improve safety, upgrade its fleet, install new technology, and overhaul its corporate culture including hiring consultants from Boeing and Delta Air Lines. In 2002, the New York Times noted that Korean Air had been removed from many "shun lists".
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Early 21st century
On 23 June 2000, along with Aeroméxico, Air France, and Delta Air Lines, Korean Air founded major airline alliance, SkyTeam and SkyTeam Cargo, founded on 28 September 2000.
On 5 June 2007, Korean Air said that it would create a new low-cost carrier called Jin Air in Korea to compete with Korea's KTX high-speed railway network system, which offered cheaper fares and less stringent security procedures compared to air travel. Jin Air started scheduled passenger service on July 17, 2008. Korean Air announced that some of its 737s and A300s would be given to Jin Air.
In mid-2010, a co-marketing deal with games company Blizzard Entertainment sent a 747-400 and a 737-900 taking to the skies wrapped in StarCraft II branding. In August 2010, Korean Air announced heavy second-quarter losses despite record-high revenue.
In August 2010, Hanjin Group, the parent of KAL, opened a new cargo terminal at Navoiy International Airport in Uzbekistan, which will become a cargo hub with regular Seoul-Navoi-Milan flights.
In 2013, Korean Air acquired a 44% stake in Czech Airlines. It sold the stake in October 2017. On 1 May 2018, the airline launched a joint venture partnership with Delta Air Lines.
In 2019, Korean Air began playing a safety video with the K-pop group SuperM. It featured the song "Let's go everywhere", which was to be released as a single. The airline also featured the group on a livery sported by a Boeing 777-300ER, with registration HL8010.In 2023, Korean Air was certified a 5-star Airline by Skytrax, an air transport rating organization.
In 2025, a 10% shareholding was acquired in Canadian airline WestJet.
Nut rage incident
Cho Hyun-Ah, also known as "Heather Cho", is the daughter of then-chairman Cho Yang-ho. She resigned from some of her duties in late 2014 after she ordered a Korean Air jet to return to the gate to allow a flight attendant to be removed from the aircraft. The attendant had served Cho nuts in a bag instead of on a plate. As a result of further fallout, Cho Hyun-Ah was later arrested by Korean authorities for violating South Korea's aviation safety laws.
Merger with Asiana Airlines
In November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Korean Government officially announced that Korean Air will acquire Asiana Airlines. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea will integrate subsidiaries Air Busan, Air Seoul, and Jin Air to form a combined low-cost carrier which will focus on regional airports in Korea.
In March 2021, KAL announced that the merger with Asiana Airlines would be delayed as foreign authorities had not approved the deal. As of 2023, the deal has not been completed as essential countries have approached the deal with skepticism.
On 12 December 2024, Reuters reported that Korean Air had completed the purchase of debt-laden Asiana Airlines in a deal worth 1.5 trillion won (USD 1.6 billion). The deal enables Korean Air to acquire 63.88% of the second-largest airline in the country, becoming the 12th largest airline in the world by international capacity.
Rebranding
On 11 March 2025, as part of its merger with Asiana Airlines, in which the latter brand will be fully absorbed in 2027, Korean Air unveiled its first major corporate rebrand since 1984. The rebranding was done in partnership with design agency Lippincott and saw the existing "Taegeuk" symbol lose its blue and red color palette in favor of outlined monochromatic dark blue color of the same symbol. It also replaced the wordmark "KOREAN AIR" written in a modified Cooper Black typeface with a sans-serif version named "Korean Air Sans" designed by Dalton Maag for the same wordmark (in the case of aircraft liveries, the wordmark is just "KOREAN"). Lippincott notes that reinterpreting the Taegeuk symbol and removing it from the logotype enhances its visibility, and its calligraphic brush-strokes style adds elegance to the new identity. Meanwhile, the new uniforms for Korean and Asiana employees signifying the unified "Korean Air" brand will be introduced in 2027.
From Wikipedia’s article on Korean Air, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5