{"id":204589,"date":"2025-04-25T10:45:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T10:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/korean-air-resumes-longest-current-b747-passenger-route\/"},"modified":"2025-04-25T10:45:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T10:45:23","slug":"korean-air-resumes-longest-current-b747-passenger-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=204589","title":{"rendered":"Korean Air resumes longest current B747 passenger route"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Korean Air, the national airline of South Korea, has reintroduced its Boeing 747-8i fleet onto the carrier\u2019s nonstop route from Seoul to Atlanta in the US, making it the longest route flown by a passenger-configured Boeing 747<\/a> by distance. The reintroduction of the type onto this particular route for the summer of 2025 sees the airline steal the crown for this accolade from German carrier Lufthansa, which was the holder until April 25, 2025, when the Seoul-based carrier brought its jumbos back to Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The route between Seoul-Incheon International Airport (ICN) and Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport (ATL) comes in at 7,172 miles (11,443km), overtaking Lufthansa\u2019s direct 747-8i flights from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires in Argentina, which covers just under that at 7,133 miles (11,412km) \u2013 a difference of just 39 miles (62km)!<\/p>\n

\"KoreanAirBoeing747<\/source><\/picture>
Suparat Chairatprasert \/ Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first flight of Korean Air\u2019s 747-8i with flight number KE35 departed from Incheon Airport at 10:26 on April 25, 2025, and at the time of writing is estimated to arrive in Atlantia at 10:06 local time. The flight is being operated by 747- 8i HL7637, which is 8.9 years old according to ch-aviation. The type is being used to accommodate the additional traffic expected on the route during the peak 2025 summer season and takes over duties from the carrier\u2019 Boeing 777-300ER fleet.<\/p>\n

According to Simple Flying, the larger Boeing type offers a capacity of 368 passengers, an increase of 33% over the smaller 777-300ER, which accommodates 291 passengers in Korean Air\u2019s configuration. The 747-8i\u2019s three-class configuration consists of six first-class seats, 48 in business class, and 314 in economy class, meaning that the economy class capacity on the route increases from 82% on the 777 to 87% on the 747.<\/p>\n

The direct flights between the two cities will continue to operate twice weekly until early May 2025, when the service will increase in frequency to a daily service until the end of summer 2025. From September 1, 2025, the flights will once more revert to the smaller 777-300ER. For the northern summer of 2025, the eastbound flights will leave Seoul-Incheon at 09:15 and are scheduled to arrive in Atlanta at 10:15 the same day. The return flights back to Seoul leave Atlanta at 12:30, landing back in Seoul at 16:50 the following day.<\/p>\n

The flights into Atlanta are timed to allow for convenient connections onto Delta\u2019s huge domestic and international network of flights from Atlanta, its largest operational hub and the busiest airport in the US, serving over 108 million passengers in 2024. Both carriers are leading members of the SkyTeam international airline alliance<\/a> and collaborate on several levels.<\/p>\n