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Here is a brief history and profile of Korean Air. In India Korean Air flies passenger flights to Mumbai.

Korean Air

Korean Air is a private airline, based in Korea. It is the largest airline in Korea and one of the largest in Asia. The Korean Air network is spread over Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North America and South America. The main hub of Korean Air is at Incheon International Airport and its headquarters is in Seoul, Korea. The international passenger division and cargo subsidiary of the airline together ply flights to as many as 130 cities, spread in 45 countries across the African, Asian, Americas and the European continents. Korean Air is one among the top 20 airlines, in terms of the passengers carried. Go through the following lines to check information on the history and profile of Korean Air.

History
The history of Korean Air can be traced back to 1948, when Korea National Airlines (KNA), a private airline, was established. The airline failed to cater to demands of air traffic and went bankrupt in 1962. In the same year, Korean government founded Korean Air Lines. However, this enterprise also failed. To save it from bankruptcy, it was acquired by Hanjin Transport Group, in March 1969, thus became a private airline. In 1973, Korean Air Lines introduced Boeing 747s to its fleet, in order to operate on its Pacific routes. Soon, the airline started a European service as well, to Paris, by using the 707s. The airline changed its name to Korean Air in 1984. In 1986, it gained the distinction of being the first airline to use the new MD-11, to supplement its new fleet of Boeing 747-400s.

Codeshare Agreements
Korean Air has signed codeshare agreements with a number of airlines in the SkyTeam Airlines Alliance, including Aeroflot, China Southern Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta-Northwest, Kenya Airways and KLM. The Star Alliance members, which have agreed for a codeshare with Korean Air, are Shanghai Airlines, Lufthansa and EgyptAir. Some of the members of the Oneworld Airlines Alliance have also come to a codeshare agreement with Korean Air. These are LAN Airlines and Japan Airlines. This apart, Korean Air has come to a codeshare agreement with Aircalin, Alaska Airlines, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Malaysia Airlines.

Destinations
The sole African country, to which Korean Air flies, is Egypt. Apart from this, the airline flies to a number of Asian destinations, includes Uzbekistan (Central Asia), China and Japan (East Asia). The South Asian countries including India (Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai) and Nepal are also covered by the airline. It also flies to the Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In Southwest Asia, the airline covers Israel and Dubai.

The European countries, to which Korean Air flies, are Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom. In South America, Korean Air flies to Canada and a number of cities in United States. Australia, Fiji, Guam and New Zealand are the countries in Oceania, to which Korean Air flies. The airline also flies to the South American country - Brazil.

Fleet
The passenger fleet of Korean Air consists of 102 aircrafts. These include Boeing 787-8, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-300, Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing 747-400M, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 737-900ER, Boeing 737-900, Boeing 737-800, Airbus A330-300, Airbus A330-200 and Airbus A300-600R. The cargo service of Korean Air operates with the modern fleet of 24 aircraft, which include Boeing 747-400F, Boeing 747-400ERF and Boeing 747-400BCF.

Last Updated on 1st August, 2009