Summary
- Korean Air will remove the Boeing 747 from Honolulu flights more than a month sooner than previously planned.
- The type will be flown to Singapore instead.
- Korean Air has eight remaining passenger-configured 747-8i aircraft (hereafter just called the 747-8), and seven routes will see them until the year’s end.
Korean Air is one of three scheduled Boeing 747 passenger airlines serving the US, alongside Air China and Lufthansa. SkyTeam’s Korean Air had intended to fly the 747-8 – its only remaining jumbo in a passenger layout – to Honolulu until October 4. However, based on its schedule update over the weekend, the type’s last Hawaii service of the year will now be on August 30. Consequently, the carrier’s US 747 flights have been reduced by a third between August 31 and October 4.
Reduced: Seoul-Honolulu 747 flights
Analysis of schedules using Cirium data shows that Korean Air has deployed the 747 – the 747-400 and then the 747-8 – to Honolulu in all of the past 10 years. However, aside from the COVID-19-hit 2020 and 2021, 2024 has the fewest jumbo flights.
The earlier-than-previously-anticipated replacement of the quadjet from the end of August has not helped. As recently as 2023, the 747 was flown until May and then again winter-seasonally from the end of October. As recently as 2022, there was a year-round Queen of the Skies operation.
Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock
The 3,977 nautical mile (7,365 km) route’s August schedule is as follows, with all times local. The latest information, which is always subject to change, shows that the 368-seat 747-8 has been replaced by the 291-seat 777-300ER between August 31 and October 4. As previously planned, the 269-seat 787-9 will operate from October 5. The 747 is not yet scheduled in 2025 – but it probably will be.
- Seoul Incheon-Honolulu: KE53, 21:05-10:55 (same day; 8h 50m)
- Honolulu-Seoul Incheon: KE54, 13:05-17:45+1 (9h 40m)
![Korean Air 747-8 landing #shutterstock_698985949-1](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/korean-air-747-8-landing-shutterstock_698985949-1.jpg)
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Where the 747 will fly now
Korean Air has eight remaining passenger-configured 747-8s. As of July 8, the latest plan for the rest of the year, which is subject to change, is as follows. Notice Singapore, which will see the jumbo from August 31 instead of Honolulu. According to Flightradar24, the type was last flown to Changi between June 12 and June 29, 2024.
- Seoul Incheon-New York JFK: 10 weekly in July, daily in August and September, daily to double daily in October (two flights from October 6-26), daily after that
- Seoul Incheon-Atlanta (the world’s longest scheduled passenger 747 by distance): daily
- Seoul Incheon-London Heathrow: daily until October 26
- Seoul Incheon-Los Angeles: daily from October 27 (replacing summer-seasonal Heathrow)
- Seoul Incheon-Honolulu: daily until August 30 (the 747-8 was used until June 10, 2024, and returned on July 7)
- Seoul Incheon-Singapore: daily from August 31-October 4 (replacing Honolulu)
- Seoul Incheon-Paris CDG: August 14 only
![Asiana A380 taking off](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/asiana-a380-taking-off.jpg)
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