Korean Air will be named Air Transport World (ATW) Cargo Airline of the Year
for 2003 at an awards ceremony here next month.
According to ATW officials, “Korean Air Cargo has been a top-ranked carrier
on a commercial basis for many years. Now it has put together all the pieces
needed to be considered a world-class operation.”
Korean Air has been a significant force in air cargo for more than 30 years.
The airline started its air cargo division in 1969 shortly after privatization, and
its timing allowed it to take advantage of its location between North America
and burgeoning Asian economies to build a freight operation that now provides 32 percent of Korean Air’s operating revenues. For the last decade
the airline has been one of the top three combination freight carriers in the
world, with the largest freighter fleet of any transpacific airline --15 747s
including nine 747-400Fs plus four MD-11Fs-- providing 31 cities worldwide
with regular freighter service.
In fact, Korean Air Cargo recently has been so boosted by China's booming
growth that the airline expects to produce a 20 percent annual increase in its
airfreight traffic to that country. This potential inspired the creation of
KAL-SkyBridge, tying Korean Air Cargo's Chinese freight flow into the
shipping and trucking operation of its parent company, Hanjin, for seamless intermodal worldwide delivery in as little as five days.
Korean Air is a key member of SkyTeam Cargo in partnership with
AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, Czech Airlines and Delta Air Lines, and is the
grouping's largest freight carrier. And it is the Asian link of a new a
US-focused air cargo marketing joint venture with Delta and Air France.
Korean Air’s cargo operation gained immensely from the opening of new
cargo facilities at Incheon International Airport, where its 623,000-sq.-ft.
complex is a duplicate in terms of technology and cargo flow of its new facility
at New York JFK. With the growth potential of the Chinese market and Incheon's location between China and North America, Korean Air expects
Incheon to become one of the world’s largest freight airports by 2010.
About Korean Air
Korean Air, with a fleet of 118, is one of the world’s top 20 airlines and
operates almost 400 passenger flights per day to 84 cities in 29 countries.
Korean Air is a founding member of SkyTeam, the global alliance – partnering
AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines and Delta Air Lines. |