Korean Air to lease B787s to Air Premia

On 28 January 2024, Korean Air announced the airline is working-out the details to lease-out Boeing B787s to its competitor Air Premia. The plan is to lease-out four B787-9s as part of a plan to strengthen competition between South Korea and the United States as Korean Air seeks permission from the US to merge with Asiana.

The proposed merger between Asiana and Korean Air has been dragging on for four years now and has met resistance from anti-trust authorities from the US and the European Union. Last year, the airline appeased the EU by announcing it was planning to hand-over five Airbus A330-300s and its routes to Barcelona, Frankfurt, Paris and Rome to competitor T'Way Airlines.

With all consessions being made, Korean Air is confident the merger will get the final approvals later this year.

The first two B787-9s will be transferred to Air Premia this year, the other two in 2025. Air Premia will add them to its current fleet of five B787-9s, which it flies from Seoul-Incheon to Bangkok, Honolulu (HI), Los Angeles (CA), Newark (NJ), and Tokyo-Narita. In May 2024, the airline will also start flying to San Francisco (CA).

Photo by Anton Homma.