Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) has announced it will buy twenty more A321neo jets from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac), boosting its existing orders for the narrowbodies from thirty to fifty as it continues to renew its fleet.
The Korean flag carrier already has an orderbook for twenty-two A321-200Ns and, in addition, has so far taken delivery of seven out of eight A321-200NX, according to ch-aviation fleets data. It received its first of these in December 2022.
Korean Air revealed that the 20 additional A321neo will be delivered through to December 31, 2030, but it did not disclose the exact neo subtypes. Deliveries of the existing thirty A321neo will continue until the end of 2027. It has been deploying its growing number of A321neo jets on short- and medium-haul routes to Southeast Asia, China, and Japan.
It said it had placed the order to secure greater operational efficiency, flight safety, and reduced carbon emissions, as well as due to a high level of passenger satisfaction with the features of the aircraft type.
The airline also has outstanding orders for fifty-one Boeing aircraft: twenty-two B737-8s, nine B787-9s, and twenty B787-10s, the latter of which it doubled from ten in July 2019.
It is meanwhile gradually retiring its older A330s and B777-200ERs, it said, elaborating that it is currently retiring six of each. It operates eight A330-200s, whose average age is 17.2 years, A330-300s (it still has twenty-one of them, average age 19.3 years), and B777-200ERs (it has eight of them, aged 18.4 years on average). It also still operates its original fleet of four B777-300s, now aged 24.4 years on average.
