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On
Tuesday, Korean Air delivered the first B747-400 converted freighter at its Aerospace / Engineering and Maintenance Base in
Busan, South Korea. This marks Korean Air’s successful first step into the civil aircraft conversion provider market.
Converting a passenger plane into a freighter can be considered similar to building a new aircraft. It requires highly sophisticated system
management skills. More than 40,000 components were replaced during the operation by 200 workers, costing approximately US$30
million. It took 6 months to complete the conversion since the commencement of project in August last year.
The delivery of Korean Air’s first self-converted freighter is testimony of the carrier’s state-of-the-art technology and expertise. Based on
this first achievement, Korean Air plans to convert a total of eight of its passenger aircraft by 2009. In addition to its own fleet, Korean Air
will provide conversion service to other airlines, targeting yearly earnings of US$100 million and creating 500 new
jobs. Currently, only Singapore, Israel and China have conversion capabilities.
The conversion will not only be a new source of business for Korean Air, but will also allow stable and economical supply of cargo
capacity for the growing airline. As the number one commercial cargo carrier in terms of volume (FTKs) it is important for the carrier to ensure
stable cargo capacity to retain the top spot. While the cost of acquiring a new freighter plane would be over US$150 million, conversion
only costs US$30 million. Keeping in mind the continued growth of the world cargo market, especially in the Asian region, the conversion
operation should allow Korean Air to keep up with the cargo demand at a much lower cost.
Mr. Hang-Jin
Cho, Korean Air’s Executive Vice President commented “This successful beginning of our aircraft conversion business is meaningful in many
ways. It proves our advanced technology and skills to the world aviation industry. It will be a strong support for our cargo business, and
provide another source of business for our aerospace and engineering sections.”
The converted freighter will be put into service on January 25, 2007.
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