Travellers' Checks | Korean Air marks 50 years of excellence, or is it accidents?
- The airline suffered multiple tragedies but a 1999 crash out of London saw it address cockpit culture and turn its record around
Korean Air this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, although its roots reach down to 1946, when Korean National Airlines (KNA) was founded. Hong Kong was an early international destination for the privately owned carrier and, during the late 1950s, a non-stop DC-4 flight left Kai Tak every Wednesday at 10am, reaching Seoul at 5.30pm.
KNA was nationalised and renamed Korean Air Lines (KAL) in 1962, then privatised again in 1969, 50 years ago. The carrier (renamed Korean Air in 1984) recently unveiled a celebratory paint job on the first of 10 aircraft to be so decorated this year (below). Alongside a symbolic “50” is the slogan “Beyond 50 years of Excellence”, emphasising, says a press release, its “contributions during the last 50 years to Korea’s airline industry”.
Anyone who can remember the KAL of the 70s, 80s and 90s might raise an eyebrow at that. Not that it was a bad airline; I enjoyed a memorable flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles on August 31, 1988 – the same day a Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) plane crash-landed at Kai Tak airport, killing seven. CAAC (which was broken up later that year) was renowned for its poor safety record; according to aviation-safety.net, it suffered 10 fatal crashes in the 70s and 80s.
KAL’s record, though, was not much better. From 1971 to 1999, says the same source, the airline had 10 fatal incidents, causing more than 700 deaths – and three of those were cargo flights with no passengers. A terrorist bombing in 1987 killed 115, and two KAL flights were shot down over Soviet Union airspace, in 1978 and 1983, killing two and 269 people, respectively.
