Korean Air

Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd., operating as Korean Air, is the national and largest airline of South Korea; its global headquarters are located in Seoul in Korea. Its international passenger division and related subsidiary cargo division together serve 130 cities in 45 countries, while its domestic division serves 20 destinations. It is among the top 20 airlines in the world airlines in terms of passengers carried. Incheon International Airport serves as Korean Air's international hub. Korean Air also maintains a satellite headquarters campus at Incheon International Airport, located 30 minutes away from South Korea's capital, Seoul.
Korean Air's main global headquarters campus and its Global Operations Center are located in Seoul, Korea in Gangseo-gu (ward). Korean Air also maintains a domestic office campus at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul. Korean Air's lesser domestic superhubs are based at Jeju International Airport and Gimhae International Airport, Busan. The maintenace facilities are located in Gimhae international airport.

History
Korean Air was founded by the South Korean Government in 1962 as Korean Air Lines to replace Korean National Airlines (founded in 1948). On 1 March 1969 the Hanjin Transport Group took control of the fledgling airline. Long-haul freight operations were introduced on 26 April 1971 followed by passenger services to Los Angeles on 19 April 1972.
International flights to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Los Angeles were flown with Boeing 707s until the introduction of Boeing 747 in 1973. In 1973, KAL introduced Boeing 747s on their Pacific routes and started a European service to Paris using the 707 and DC-10. In 1975 KAL became one of Airbus's first Asian customers with the purchase of three A300s, which were put into immediate service on Asian routes.
A blue-top, silver and redesigned livery with a new corporate "Korean Air" logo featuring an accented, stylized "taegukki" design was introduced on 1 March 1984 and the airline's name changed to Korean Air from Korean Air Lines. This livery was introduced on its Fokker F28s. It was designed in cooperation between Korean Air and Boeing. In 1990s Korean Air became the first airline to use the new MD-11 to supplement its new fleet of Boeing 747-400s. However, MD-11 did not meet the set performance and they were converted to freighters (in addition to 747 freighters).
In 1998, an economic recession hit South Korea, which resulted in large reductions in flights and destinations. In 2000, South Korea recovered and Korean Air expanded its global destination network, adding gateways from its hub at Incheon International Airport.
Korean Air flies to the most US gateway destinations of any Asian carrier (14 cities in the 50 states and territories).
Korean Air owns 25% of Okay Airways, a Tianjin, PRC-based airline. As of 2007, Korean Air is in negotiations to open its China hub in Beijing or Shanghai by the end of 2008.
The airline has 16,623 employees (at March 2007). On June 5, 2007, Korean Air said that it would create a new low-cost carrier in Korea to compete with Korea's super-high speed railway network system named KTX which offers cheaper fares and less stringent security procedures. Korean Air's low-cost concept will fly Boeing 737s. Over 20 domestic destinations are planned to be part of the new domestic network.

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