Korean Air to Buy 25 Boeing Aircraft

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s flag carrier Korean Air said Tuesday it will buy 25 passenger jets from Boeing Co. for around $5.5 billion, the largest aviation deal in the nation’s history.

Under the agreement, Boeing will deliver 15 passenger aircraft and 10 freighters to Korean Air Co. – the world’s biggest mover of air cargo – over a 10-year period beginning in 2009, the airline said in a statement.

Korean Air is buying 10 777-300s, five 737-900/700s, five 747-8 freighters and five 777-200 freighters. It has an option on an additional eight planes: four 777-300s, two 747-8Fs and two 737-900s.

“The addition of Boeing’s aircraft to our fleet will play an integral part in our development to become a leader in the world’s aviation industry,” Korean Air’s chief executive, Cho Yang-ho, said in a statement.

Korean Air will use the planes to take a larger slice of global passenger traffic and “become one of the world’s top 10 passenger carriers by 2010,” the statement said.

The Seoul-based company, which operates a fleet of 118 aircraft in 33 countries, forecast annual aviation sector growth of 5 percent to 6 percent over the next two decades, spurred in part by China’s economic boom.

The contract was signed in Seoul on Monday.