Copyright
1998-2002 Dragon Models Limited. All Rights Reserved.
The
private company Hanjin Transport Group took over Korean Airlines, formed in
1962 and which had been state owned, and eight aircraft on 1 Mar 1969. Its international
routes were to Hong Kong and Osaka. In 1973, KAL acquired its first Boeing 747,
used from May that year for transpacific services via Tokyo and Honolulu to
Los Angeles. In the same year, a weekly service to Paris was started, its first
destination in Europe using Boeing 707s. The Airbus A300B4 came into service
in 1975 and was used for the East Asian market. DC-10 deliveries also began
in 1975. In 1984, the name Korean Air was introduced and the present color scheme
adopted. Korean Air developed to become one of the world's largest airlines
with services to all five continents, and a large fleet of dedicated freighters,
including five passenger-converted MD-11s (converted in 1996/7). However, during
the late 1990s, partly because of the Asian economic crisis, and partly because
of its own difficulties, Korean suffered a few turbulent years. Routes and fleet
were reduced in order to contain losses, and a new management team was installed.
By 2000, things started to move in the right direction and renewal and expansion
of the fleet is in progress. Korean Air is now based at the new Inchon International
Airport. Workhorse of the Korean fleet is the Boeing 747-400, which we now take
pleasure in releasing to 1:400 scale collectors.
